CVE-2024-38693

WP User Frontend <= 4.0.7 - Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection

2024-08-01 00:00
Trương Hữu Phúc (truonghuuphuc)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.0.8
Affected Plugin
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission
Affected Version
<= 4.0.7
CVSS
9.1Critical
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2024-38693
View all User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2024-38693 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the User Frontend WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.0.7. It carries a CVSS score of 9.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.0.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2024, reported by Trương Hữu Phúc (truonghuuphuc).

Vulnerability Overview

The WP User Frontend plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection via the 'orderby' parameter in versions up to, and including, 4.0.7 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

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 interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

User Frontend <= 4.0.7 carries this weakness at orderby, and reaching it takes an account at Administrator level or above. SQL injection happens when request data is concatenated into a query instead of being bound as a parameter, letting an attacker change the structure of the statement rather than just its values.

A working injection can read any table the database user can see, which on a WordPress install means user records, password hashes and session or API secrets stored in options. For User Frontend the fix is 4.0.8: builds <= 4.0.7 are affected, anything from 4.0.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.0.8, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Administrator access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: User Frontend 4.0.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38693https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d2fdd6eb-c848-446c-abad-7d2ea93f5512https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38693

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C