CVE-2019-15111

WP Front End Profile <= 0.2.1 - Privilege Escalation

2016-09-14 00:00
Phil Wylie (mustardbees)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 0.2.2
Affected Plugin
WP Frontend Profile
Affected Version
<= 0.2.1
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE
CVE-2019-15111
View all WP Frontend Profile vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2019-15111 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the WP Frontend Profile WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.2.1. 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 0.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2016, reported by Phil Wylie (mustardbees).

Vulnerability Overview

The WP Front End Profile plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 0.2.1. This is due to the registration form not properly validating the user meta that is supplied allowing attackers to set the wp_capabilities user meta. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain access to an account with full administrative privileges.

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-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in WP Frontend Profile <= 0.2.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.

It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For WP Frontend Profile the fix is 0.2.2: builds <= 0.2.1 are affected, anything from 0.2.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.2.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Frontend Profile 0.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-15111https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f8aefc77-b5fb-45b0-b3ba-67d850c72e77https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-15111

Related records

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