CVE-2021-42359

WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) <= 3.1.23 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Post Deletion

2021-09-21 00:00
Ram

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.1.24
Affected Plugin
WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR)
Affected Version
<= 3.1.23
CVSS
7.5High
Weakness type
CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
CVE
CVE-2021-42359
View all WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-42359 is a high-severity Improper Access Control vulnerability in the WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.1.23. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.1.24; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2021, reported by Ram.

Vulnerability Overview

WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) <= 3.1.23 had an AJAX action, ‘admin-dismiss-unsubscribe‘, which lacked a capability check and a nonce check and was available to unauthenticated users, and did not check the post type when deleting unsubscription requests. As such, it was possible for an attacker to permanently delete an arbitrary post or page on the site by sending an AJAX request with the “action” parameter set to “admin-dismiss-unsubscribe” and the “id” parameter set to the post to be deleted. Sending such a request would move the post to the trash, and repeating the request would permanently delete the post in question.

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 privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on availability.

CWE-284: Improper Access Control

WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) <= 3.1.23 carries this weakness at action, and reaching it takes no account at all. Improper access control means the code decides what a caller may do using something other than their actual permissions, so the decision can be wrong without any check appearing to be missing.

Whoever can shape the request decides the answer, so the protected action runs for callers the code never meant to allow. For WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) the fix is 3.1.24: builds <= 3.1.23 are affected, anything from 3.1.24 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.1.24, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) 3.1.24 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-42359https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/32346090-ef3e-4a42-b7e2-7f3b7a9221e0https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-42359

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C