WP-reCAPTCHA <= 2.9.8.2 - Multiple Cross-Site Request Forgery
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.0
- Affected Plugin
- WP-reCAPTCHA
- Affected Version
<= 2.9.8.2- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2011-0759
At a glance
CVE-2011-0759 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WP-reCAPTCHA WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.9.8.2. 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 3.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2011, reported by Check Point Vulnerability Discovery Team.
Vulnerability Overview
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the configuration page in the Recaptcha (aka WP-reCAPTCHA) plugin 2.9.8.2 for WordPress allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that disable the CAPTCHA requirement or insert cross-site scripting (XSS) sequences via the (1) recaptcha_opt_pubkey, (2) recaptcha_opt_privkey, (3) re_tabindex, (4) error_blank, (5) error_incorrect, (6) mailhide_pub, (7) mailhide_priv, (8) mh_replace_link, or (9) mh_replace_title parameter.
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)
Reaching this weakness in WP-reCAPTCHA <= 2.9.8.2 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-reCAPTCHA the fix is 3.0: builds <= 2.9.8.2 are affected, anything from 3.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WP-reCAPTCHA: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP-reCAPTCHA 3.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in WP-reCAPTCHA
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