CVE-2022-44584

WatchTowerHQ <= 3.6.15 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Deletion

2022-11-01 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.6.16
Affected Plugin: WatchTowerHQ
Affected Version: <= 3.6.15
CVSS: 9.1Critical
Weakness type: CWE-73 · External Control of File Name or Path
CVE: CVE-2022-44584

At a glance

CVE-2022-44584 is a critical-severity External Control of File Name or Path vulnerability in the WatchTowerHQ WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.6.15. It carries a CVSS score of 9.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.6.16; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2022, reported by Dave Jong.

Vulnerability Overview

The WatchTowerHQ plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion in versions up to, and including, 3.6.15 due to missing capability checks on several REST API endpoints. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary files on the affected site's server.

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 integrity, availability.

CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path

The product allows user input to control or influence paths or file names that are used in filesystem operations.

Remediation

Update to version 3.6.16, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WatchTowerHQ 3.6.16 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Scanner
Login Security

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-44584 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/38526b0c-a5d9-4f54-bd6f-30ab34d266f5 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-44584

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in WatchTowerHQ

CVSS Vector

9.1

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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