CVE-2023-23714

Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash <= 3.6.4.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Plugin Install and Activation

2023-01-27 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.6.4.2
Affected Plugin: Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash
Affected Version: <= 3.6.4.1
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE: CVE-2023-23714

View all Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-23714 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.6.4.1. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.6.4.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2023, reported by István Márton.

Vulnerability Overview

The Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 3.6.4.1. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the wp_ajax_auto_plugin_install function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install or activate arbitrary plugins, via forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Reaching this weakness in Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash <= 3.6.4.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.

An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash the fix is 3.6.4.2: builds <= 3.6.4.1 are affected, anything from 3.6.4.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.6.4.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash 3.6.4.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-23714 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7ea4ca2d-6a67-43ad-817d-960cad3030b8 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23714

Related records

Same weakness class

8.8Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash <= 3.6.3 Cross-Site Request Forgery

Other vulnerabilities in Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash

CVSS Vector

8.8

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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