Subscribe2 – Form, Email Subscribers & Newsletters < 8.1 - Multiple Cross-Site Scripting

2014-08-01 00:00
Heine Pedersen

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 8.1
Affected Plugin
Subscribe2 – Form, Email Subscribers & Newsletters
Affected Version
< 8.1
CVSS
7.1High
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE pending
View all Subscribe2 – Form, Email Subscribers & Newsletters vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Subscribe2 WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 8.1. It carries a CVSS score of 7.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 8.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2014, reported by Heine Pedersen.

Vulnerability Overview

The Subscribe2 – Form, Email Subscribers & Newsletters plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Multiple Cross-Site Scripting via several parameters in versions before 8.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute in a victim's browser.

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 Subscribe2 < 8.1 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 Subscribe2 the fix is 8.1: builds < 8.1 are affected, anything from 8.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 8.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Subscribe2: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Subscribe2 8.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/10a54a3b-db6d-45c5-9280-7042ccc17ccd

Related records

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