Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 59.4
- Affected Plugin
- WooCommerce Upload Files
- Affected Version
< 59.4- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
- CVE
CVE-2021-24171
At a glance
CVE-2021-24171 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the WooCommerce Upload Files WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 59.4. 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 59.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2021, reported by Ram.
Vulnerability Overview
The WooCommerce Upload Files WordPress plugin before 59.4 ran a single sanitization pass to remove blocked extensions such as .php. It was possible to bypass this and upload a file with a PHP extension by embedding a "blocked" extension within another "blocked" extension in the "wcuf_file_name" parameter. It was also possible to perform a double extension attack and upload files to a different location via path traversal using the "wcuf_current_upload_session_id" parameter.
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-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
WooCommerce Upload Files < 59.4 carries this weakness at blocked, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.
If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For WooCommerce Upload Files the fix is 59.4: builds < 59.4 are affected, anything from 59.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 59.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WooCommerce Upload Files: 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: WooCommerce Upload Files 59.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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