CVE-2022-2536

Transposh WordPress Translation <= 1.0.9.6 - Authorization Bypass

2022-11-14 00:00
Julien Ahrens

Strategic Overview

Status
Unpatched
Affected Plugin
Transposh WordPress Translation
Affected Version
<= 1.0.9.6
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
CVE
CVE-2022-2536
View all Transposh WordPress Translation vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2022-2536 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the Transposh WordPress Translation WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.9.6. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed November 2022, reported by Julien Ahrens.

Vulnerability Overview

The Transposh WordPress Translation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized setting changes by unauthenticated users in versions up to, and including, 1.0.9.6. This is due to insufficient validation of settings on the 'tp_translation' AJAX action which makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to bypass any restrictions and influence the data shown on the site. Please note this is a separate issue from CVE-2022-2461. Notes from the researcher: When installed Transposh comes with a set of pre-configured options, one of these is the "Who can translate" setting under the "Settings" tab. However, this option is largely ignored, if Transposh has enabled its "autotranslate" feature (it's enabled by default) and the HTTP POST parameter "sr0" is larger than 0. This is caused by a faulty validation in "wp/transposh_db.php."

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.

CWE-285: Improper Authorization

Transposh WordPress Translation <= 1.0.9.6 carries this weakness at tp_translation, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authorization means a permission check exists but does not cover the case being exercised, so a caller who is allowed to do one thing is allowed to do a neighbouring thing as well.

A lower-privileged account performs an action reserved for a higher one, which on a multi-author or membership site means an ordinary user reaching administrative behaviour. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Transposh WordPress Translation yet, so installs running <= 1.0.9.6 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.

Remediation

No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-2536https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/c774b520-9d9f-4102-8564-49673d5ae1e6https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-2536

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C