Simple Social Media Share Buttons 2.0.4 - 2.0.21 - Missing Authorization

2019-02-11 00:00
Luka Sikic

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.0.22
Affected Plugin
Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone
Affected Version
2.0.4 – 2.0.21
CVSS
6.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE pending
View all Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Simple Social Media Share Buttons WordPress plugin, affecting versions 2.0.4 – 2.0.21. It carries a CVSS score of 6.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The root cause is a missing authorization check on a reachable function. The issue is fixed in version 2.0.22; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2019, reported by Luka Sikic.

Vulnerability Overview

The Simple Social Media Share Buttons plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to a missing capability check on the download(), import(), and download_help() functions in versions 2.0.4 - 2.0.21. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with minimal permissions, such as a subscriber, to update arbitrary options on the site that can be used to register a new administrative user account.

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.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Simple Social Media Share Buttons 2.0.4 – 2.0.21 carries this weakness at download(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Simple Social Media Share Buttons the fix is 2.0.22: builds 2.0.4 – 2.0.21 are affected, anything from 2.0.22 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.0.22, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Simple Social Media Share Buttons 2.0.22 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/1bda01a0-e995-4642-81e3-4a72e6754af6

Related records

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