CVE-2021-24727

WP Block and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection Plugin StopBadBots < 6.60 - Authenticated SQL Injection

2021-08-06 00:00
Martin Vierula

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 6.60
Affected Plugin
Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection
Affected Version
< 6.60
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2021-24727
View all Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24727 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 6.60. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 6.60; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2021, reported by Martin Vierula.

Vulnerability Overview

The StopBadBots WordPress plugin before 6.60 did not validate or escape the order and orderby GET parameter in some of its admin dashboard pages, leading to Authenticated SQL Injections.

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, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

Reaching this weakness in Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection < 6.60 takes any authenticated account. SQL injection happens when request data is concatenated into a query instead of being bound as a parameter, letting an attacker change the structure of the statement rather than just its values.

A working injection can read any table the database user can see, which on a WordPress install means user records, password hashes and session or API secrets stored in options. For Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection the fix is 6.60: builds < 6.60 are affected, anything from 6.60 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.60, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection 6.60 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24727https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b3758f06-2b69-458f-a7c8-f604f0fbda31https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24727

Related records

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