CVE-2023-6492

Simple Sitemap <= 3.5.13 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via admin_notices

2024-06-13 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.5.14
Affected Plugin: Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress
Affected Version: <= 3.5.13
CVSS: 4.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE: CVE-2023-6492

View all Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-6492 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Simple Sitemap WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.5.13. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.5.14; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2024, reported by Rafshanzani Suhada.

Vulnerability Overview

The Simple Sitemap – Create a Responsive HTML Sitemap plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 3.5.13. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation in the 'admin_notices' hook found in class-settings.php. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to reset the plugin options to a default state via a 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.

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

Simple Sitemap <= 3.5.13 carries this weakness at admin_notices, 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 Sitemap the fix is 3.5.14: builds <= 3.5.13 are affected, anything from 3.5.14 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.5.14, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Simple Sitemap: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Simple Sitemap 3.5.14 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-6492 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a228e60c-c91b-4a82-8b05-a0ffaed82524 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6492

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress

CVSS Vector

4.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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