CVE-2021-4333

WP Statistics <= 13.1.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Plugin Activation and Deactivation

2021-09-11 00:00
Ram

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 13.1.2
Affected Plugin
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative
Affected Version
<= 13.1.1
CVSS
6.5Medium
Weakness type
CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE
CVE-2021-4333
View all WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-4333 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WP Statistics WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 13.1.1. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 13.1.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2021, reported by Ram.

Vulnerability Overview

The WP Statistics plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 13.1.1. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the view() function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to activate and deactivate arbitrary plugins, via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

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 integrity.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

WP Statistics <= 13.1.1 carries this weakness at view(), 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 Statistics the fix is 13.1.2: builds <= 13.1.1 are affected, anything from 13.1.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 13.1.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WP Statistics: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Statistics 13.1.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-4333https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/215937d9-739b-4198-b375-6d171bbac64ahttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-4333

Related records

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