CVE-2021-32790

WooCommerce < 5.5 - Authenticated Blind SQL Injection

2021-07-13 00:00
Josh (jl-dos)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.3.6
Affected Plugin
WooCommerce
Affected Version
3.3 – 5.5 · 24 branches
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2021-32790
View all WooCommerce vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-32790 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the WooCommerce WordPress plugin, affecting versions 3.3 – 5.5 · 24 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 3.3.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2021, reported by Josh (jl-dos).

Vulnerability Overview

Woocommerce is an open source eCommerce plugin for WordPress. An SQL injection vulnerability impacts all WooCommerce sites running the WooCommerce plugin between version 3.3.0 and 5.5. Malicious actors (already) having admin access, or API keys to the WooCommerce site can exploit vulnerable endpoints of `/wp-json/wc/v3/webhooks`, `/wp-json/wc/v2/webhooks` and other webhook listing API. Read-only SQL queries can be executed using this exploit, while data will not be returned, by carefully crafting `search` parameter information can be disclosed using timing and related attacks. Version 3.3.6 is the earliest version of Woocommerce with a patch for this vulnerability. There are no known workarounds other than upgrading.

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 interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

Reaching this weakness in WooCommerce 3.3 – 5.5 · 24 branches takes any authenticated account. SQL injection happens when request data is concatenated into a query instead of being bound as a parameter, letting an attacker change the structure of the statement rather than just its values.

A working injection can read any table the database user can see, which on a WordPress install means user records, password hashes and session or API secrets stored in options. For WooCommerce the fix is 3.3.6: builds 3.3 – 5.5 · 24 branches are affected, anything from 3.3.6 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.3.6, 3.4.8, 3.5.9, 3.6.6, 3.7.2, 3.8.2, 3.9.4, 4.0.2, 4.1.2, 4.2.3, 4.3.4, 4.4.2, 4.5.3, 4.6.3, 4.7.2, 4.8.1, 4.9.3, 5.0.1, 5.1.1, 5.2.3, 5.3.1, 5.4.2, 5.5.1, 5.5.2

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WooCommerce: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WooCommerce 3.3.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-32790https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3a17560b-4fe0-4e1b-b4a2-c411f1123914https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-32790

Related records

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