Wordfence Security <= 5.2.3 - Stored Cross-Site Scripting via HTTP_HOST

2014-09-27 00:00
Voxel@Night

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.2.4
Affected Plugin
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security
Affected Version
<= 5.2.3
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE pending
View all Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Wordfence Security WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.2.3. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.2.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2014, reported by Voxel@Night.

Vulnerability Overview

The Wordfence Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the '$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']' in PHP in versions up to, and including, 5.2.3 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthorized attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

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.

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

Wordfence Security <= 5.2.3 carries this weakness at HTTP_HOST, and reaching it 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 Wordfence Security the fix is 5.2.4: builds <= 5.2.3 are affected, anything from 5.2.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.2.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Wordfence Security: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Wordfence Security 5.2.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/47938357-7d51-4d62-a08c-4b2bf3f3a062

Related records

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