WP Statistics <= 12.6.6.1 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via IP Manipulation

2019-07-01 00:00
Antony Garand

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 12.6.7
Affected Plugin
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative
Affected Version
<= 12.6.6.1
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE pending
View all WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the WP Statistics WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 12.6.6.1. 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 12.6.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2019, reported by Antony Garand.

Vulnerability Overview

The WP Statistics plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via IP spoofing in versions up to, and including, 12.6.6.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated 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')

Reaching this weakness in WP Statistics <= 12.6.6.1 takes no account at all. 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 WP Statistics the fix is 12.6.7: builds <= 12.6.6.1 are affected, anything from 12.6.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 12.6.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Statistics 12.6.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/69f861bf-933f-4413-a5c0-fd39ee78e594

Related records

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