CVE-2017-14313

Shibboleth <= 1.6 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2016-03-02 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.7
Affected Plugin: Shibboleth
Affected Version: <= 1.6
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2017-14313

At a glance

CVE-2017-14313 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Shibboleth WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2016.

Vulnerability Overview

The shibboleth_login_form function in shibboleth.php in the Shibboleth plugin before 1.7 for WordPress is prone to an XSS vulnerability due to improper use of add_query_arg().

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.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Shibboleth <= 1.6 carries this weakness at add_query_arg(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.

Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Shibboleth the fix is 1.7: builds <= 1.6 are affected, anything from 1.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Shibboleth: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Shibboleth 1.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-14313 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7cd8ea73-81f3-41fe-bb1e-403d2645ff39 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14313

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Shibboleth

9.8CVE-2026-12281: Shibboleth <= 2.5.3 Administrator Account CreationCVE-2026-12281

CVSS Vector

6.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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