CVE-2015-9321

Shortcode Factory <= 1.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2015-04-21 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.1.1
Affected Plugin: Shortcode Factory
Affected Version: <= 1.1
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2015-9321

View all Shortcode Factory vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2015-9321 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Shortcode Factory WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.1. 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 1.1.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2015.

Vulnerability Overview

The shortcode-factory plugin before 1.1.1 for WordPress has XSS via 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')

Reaching this weakness in Shortcode Factory <= 1.1 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 Shortcode Factory the fix is 1.1.1: builds <= 1.1 are affected, anything from 1.1.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.1.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Shortcode Factory: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Shortcode Factory 1.1.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-9321 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a90e1628-3490-4aac-9e82-b3b9692813f0 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-9321

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Shortcode Factory

9.8CVE-2019-15322: Shortcode Factory <= 2.7 Local File InclusionCVE-2019-15322

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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