CVE-2019-9879

WPGraphQL <= 0.2.3 - Administrative User Creation

2019-05-08 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 0.3.0
Affected Plugin: WPGraphQL
Affected Version: <= 0.2.3
CVSS: 9.8Critical
Weakness type: CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE: CVE-2019-9879

At a glance

CVE-2019-9879 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the WPGraphQL WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.2.3. 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 0.3.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2019, reported by Simone Quatrini.

Vulnerability Overview

The WPGraphQL versions up to 0.2.3 for WordPress allows remote attackers to register a new user with admin privileges, whenever new user registrations are allowed. This is related to the registerUser mutation.

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 WPGraphQL <= 0.2.3 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 WPGraphQL the fix is 0.3.0: builds <= 0.2.3 are affected, anything from 0.3.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.3.0, 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: WPGraphQL 0.3.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-9879 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/80e74852-517e-4cd0-a7d3-6f6fe3433bff https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-9879

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in WPGraphQL

CVSS Vector

9.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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