CVE-2022-3208

Simple File List <= 4.4.12 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Page Creation

2022-09-19 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.4.13
Affected Plugin: Simple File List
Affected Version: <= 4.4.12
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE: CVE-2022-3208

View all Simple File List vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2022-3208 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Simple File List WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.4.12. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.4.13; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2022, reported by Raad Haddad.

Vulnerability Overview

The Simple File List plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 4.4.12. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on its page creation function eeSFL_FREE_CreatePostwithShortcode(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create new pages and manipulate their contents, via forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Simple File List <= 4.4.12 carries this weakness at eeSFL_FREE_CreatePostwithShortcode(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.

An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Simple File List the fix is 4.4.13: builds <= 4.4.12 are affected, anything from 4.4.13 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.4.13, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Simple File List: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Simple File List 4.4.13 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-3208 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e9a94b81-6430-4f04-ac16-4bf79318b5de https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-3208

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Simple File List

CVSS Vector

8.8

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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