CVE-2014-10021

WP Symposium <= 14.11 - Arbitrary File Upload

2014-12-11 00:00
Claudio Viviani

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 15.1
Affected Plugin
WP Symposium
Affected Version
<= 14.11
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
CVE
CVE-2014-10021
View all WP Symposium vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2014-10021 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the WP Symposium WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 14.11. 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 15.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2014, reported by Claudio Viviani.

Vulnerability Overview

The WP Symposium plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to missing file type validation in the UploadHandler.php file in versions up to, and including, 14.11. This makes it possible for attackers to upload arbitrary files on the affected sites server which may make remote code execution possible when the file is accessed from the server/php/directory.

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-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

Reaching this weakness in WP Symposium <= 14.11 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.

If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For WP Symposium the fix is 15.1: builds <= 14.11 are affected, anything from 15.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 15.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WP Symposium: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Symposium 15.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-10021https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b3eee437-e65e-461e-9350-c89f21171e3chttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-10021

Related records

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