WP Coder <= 2.5.1 - Remote File Inclusion leading to Remote Code Execution via Cross-Site Request Forgery
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.5.2
- Affected Plugin
- WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets
- Affected Version
<= 2.5.1- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2021-25053
At a glance
CVE-2021-25053 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WP Coder WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.5.1. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.5.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by Krzysztof Zając.
Vulnerability Overview
The WP Coder WordPress plugin before 2.5.2 within the wow-company admin menu page allows to include() arbitrary file with PHP extension (as well as with data:// or http:// protocols), thus leading to CSRF RCE.
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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
WP Coder <= 2.5.1 carries this weakness at include(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For WP Coder the fix is 2.5.2: builds <= 2.5.1 are affected, anything from 2.5.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.5.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WP Coder: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Coder 2.5.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets
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