CVE-2021-24741

Support Board <= 3.3.3 - Multiple Unauthenticated SQL Injections

2021-09-03 00:00
John Jefferson Li

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.3.4
Affected Plugin
Support Board
Affected Version
<= 3.3.3
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2021-24741
View all Support Board vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24741 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Support Board WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.3.3. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.3.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2021, reported by John Jefferson Li.

Vulnerability Overview

The Support Board WordPress plugin before 3.3.4 does not escape multiple POST parameters (such as status_code, department, user_id, conversation_id, conversation_status_code, and recipient_id) before using them in SQL statements, leading to SQL injections which are exploitable by unauthenticated users.

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, 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 Support Board <= 3.3.3 takes no account at all. 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 Support Board the fix is 3.3.4: builds <= 3.3.3 are affected, anything from 3.3.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.3.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Support Board 3.3.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24741https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f3eb1cb5-71ca-44c5-9434-e86301543357https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24741

Related records

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