Ruby Help Desk <= 1.3.3 - Missing Authorization to Arbitrary Ticket Modification
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.3.4
- Affected Plugin
- Ruby Help Desk
- Affected Version
<= 1.3.3- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-639 · Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
- CVE
CVE-2023-1125
At a glance
CVE-2023-1125 is a medium-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in the Ruby Help Desk WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.3.3. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The root cause is a missing authorization check on a reachable function. The issue is fixed in version 1.3.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2023, reported by Ameen Alkurdy.
Vulnerability Overview
The Ruby Help Desk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing authorization check on the process_ticket_reply function in versions up to, and including, 1.3.3. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber-level permissions or above to update arbitrary tickets in the system.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Reaching this weakness in Ruby Help Desk <= 1.3.3 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, often called insecure direct object reference, means the application looks up a record by an identifier from the request without checking that the caller owns it.
Changing a number in the request is enough to read or modify other users' records, which on commerce and membership sites means customer data. For Ruby Help Desk the fix is 1.3.4: builds <= 1.3.3 are affected, anything from 1.3.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.3.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Ruby Help Desk 1.3.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C