CVE-2021-24136

Testimonials Widget <= 3.5.1 - Multiple Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

2020-07-03 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.0.1
Affected Plugin: Testimonials Widget
Affected Version: <= 3.5.1
CVSS: 5.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2021-24136

View all Testimonials Widget vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24136 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Testimonials Widget WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.5.1. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 4.0.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2020, reported by Nguyen Anh Tien.

Vulnerability Overview

Unvalidated input and lack of output encoding in the Testimonials Widget WordPress plugin, versions before 4.0.0, lead to multiple Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities, allowing remote attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript code or HTML via the below parameters: - Author - Job Title - Location - Company - Email - URL

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in Testimonials Widget <= 3.5.1 takes any authenticated account. 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 Testimonials Widget the fix is 4.0.1: builds <= 3.5.1 are affected, anything from 4.0.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.0.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Testimonials Widget: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Testimonials Widget 4.0.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24136 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ae46eea5-4b7a-4cf5-97ff-c65b7e8e3261 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24136

Related records

Same weakness class

CVSS Vector

5.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

This record contains material that is subject to copyright

CVE Usage: MITRE hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®). Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse

Defiant hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute this software vulnerability information. Any copy of the software vulnerability information you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you include a hyperlink to this vulnerability record and reproduce Defiant's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/