CVE-2023-32960

UpdraftPlus <= 1.23.3 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Cross-Site Scripting via action_authenticate_storage

2023-05-18 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.23.4
Affected Plugin: UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin
Affected Version: <= 1.23.3
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE: CVE-2023-32960

View all UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-32960 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the UpdraftPlus WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.23.3. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.23.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2023, reported by Rafie Muhammad.

Vulnerability Overview

The UpdraftPlus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.23.3. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the action_authenticate_storage function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject JavaScript into a parameter in the authentication process via a forged request which will execute in their browser at another part of the process, granted they can trick a site administrator into performing multiple actions including re-authenticating a connection to storage.

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-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Reaching this weakness in UpdraftPlus <= 1.23.3 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 UpdraftPlus the fix is 1.23.4: builds <= 1.23.3 are affected, anything from 1.23.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.23.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to UpdraftPlus: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: UpdraftPlus 1.23.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-32960 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/597f06ac-f9c7-4dcb-bb72-15ed7e9d8ac6 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32960

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin

CVSS Vector

6.1

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

Base

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

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