Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.0.94
- Affected Plugin
- User Verification by PickPlugins
- Affected Version
<= 1.0.93- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
- CVE
CVE-2022-4693
At a glance
CVE-2022-4693 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the User Verification by PickPlugins WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.93. 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 1.0.94; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2022, reported by István Márton.
Vulnerability Overview
The User Verification plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass. This is due to the fact that when generating OTP codes for users to use in order to login, the plugin returns these codes in an AJAX response. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to obtain login codes for administrators.
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-287: Improper Authentication
Reaching this weakness in User Verification by PickPlugins <= 1.0.93 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.
An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For User Verification by PickPlugins the fix is 1.0.94: builds <= 1.0.93 are affected, anything from 1.0.94 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.0.94, or a newer patched version
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. None of that substitutes for the fix: User Verification by PickPlugins 1.0.94 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
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