CVE-2021-25019

SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO <= 11.1.11 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2022-02-28 00:00
Krzysztof Zając

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 11.1.12
Affected Plugin
GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO
Affected Version
< 11.1.12
CVSS
6.1Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2021-25019
View all GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-25019 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 11.1.12. 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 11.1.12; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2022, reported by Krzysztof Zając.

Vulnerability Overview

The SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO WordPress plugin before 11.1.12 does not escape the type parameter before outputting it back in an attribute in an admin page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

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 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO < 11.1.12 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 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO the fix is 11.1.12: builds < 11.1.12 are affected, anything from 11.1.12 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 11.1.12, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 11.1.12 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25019https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e4a2d6ee-ee1b-44a1-ad74-61837d9ef4b2https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25019

Related records

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