User Post Gallery - UPG <= 2.19 - Missing Authorization to Remote Command Execution
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- User Post Gallery – UPG
- Affected Version
2.19- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-77 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2022-4060
At a glance
CVE-2022-4060 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection') vulnerability in the User Post Gallery WordPress plugin, affecting versions 2.19. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed December 2022, reported by cydave.
Vulnerability Overview
The User Post Gallery - UPG plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass which leads to remote command execution due to the use of a nopriv AJAX action and user supplied function calls and parameters in versions up to, and including 2.19. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to call arbitrary PHP functions and perform actions like adding new files that can be webshells and updating the site's options to allow anyone to register as an administrator.
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-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to User Post Gallery: 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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
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