CVE-2014-8724

W3 Total Cache <= 0.9.4 - Cross-Site Scripting

2014-12-16 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 0.9.4.1
Affected Plugin: W3 Total Cache
Affected Version: <= 0.9.4
CVSS: 5.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2014-8724

At a glance

CVE-2014-8724 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.9.4. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 0.9.4.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2014, reported by Tobias Glemser.

Vulnerability Overview

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the W3 Total Cache plugin before 0.9.4.1 for WordPress, when debug mode is enabled, allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the "Cache key" in the HTML-Comments, as demonstrated by the PATH_INFO to the default URI.

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

Reaching this weakness in W3 Total Cache <= 0.9.4 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 W3 Total Cache the fix is 0.9.4.1: builds <= 0.9.4 are affected, anything from 0.9.4.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.9.4.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to W3 Total Cache: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: W3 Total Cache 0.9.4.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-8724 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/71114965-c8e3-4f2f-b308-f75adc7f2d31 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-8724

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in W3 Total Cache

CVSS Vector

5.4

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

Base

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

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