CVE-2023-23800

Shortcodes Ultimate <= 5.12.6 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Server-Side Request Forgery

2023-02-10 00:00
Rafie Muhammad

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.12.7
Affected Plugin
Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements
Affected Version
<= 5.12.6
CVSS
6.5Medium
Weakness type
CWE-918 · Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
CVE
CVE-2023-23800
View all Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-23800 is a medium-severity Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the Shortcodes Ultimate WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.12.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 5.12.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2023, reported by Rafie Muhammad.

Vulnerability Overview

The Shortcodes Ultimate plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Server-Side Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 5.12.6. This is due to insufficient validation on the url being supplied via the "url" attribute of the su_csv_table shortcode. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level privileges and above, to make web requests to arbitrary locations originating from the web application and can be used to query and modify information from internal services.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality.

CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Shortcodes Ultimate <= 5.12.6 carries this weakness at url, and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. Server-side request forgery means the application fetches a URL supplied by the caller, turning the server into a proxy for requests the attacker could not make directly.

The request originates from inside the hosting network, which is how these flaws reach cloud metadata endpoints, internal admin panels and services that trust local traffic. For Shortcodes Ultimate the fix is 5.12.7: builds <= 5.12.6 are affected, anything from 5.12.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.12.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Subscriber access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Shortcodes Ultimate 5.12.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-23800https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7bb6caf6-5676-49cd-8577-5a41b44b00c0https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23800

Related records

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