CVE-2023-2279

WP Directory Kit <= 1.2.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Plugin Settings Change/Delete, Demo Import, Directory Kit Modification/Deletion via admin_page_display

2023-04-28 00:00
István Márton

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.2.2
Affected Plugin
WP Directory Kit
Affected Version
<= 1.2.1
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE
CVE-2023-2279
View all WP Directory Kit vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-2279 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WP Directory Kit WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.2.1. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2023, reported by István Márton.

Vulnerability Overview

The WP Directory Kit plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.2.1. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the 'admin_page_display' function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete or change plugin settings, import demo data, modify or delete Directory Kit related posts and terms via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link. Partial patches were made avilable in versions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 but the issue was not fully patched until 1.2.2

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.

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

WP Directory Kit <= 1.2.1 carries this weakness at admin_page_display, 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 Directory Kit the fix is 1.2.2: builds <= 1.2.1 are affected, anything from 1.2.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.2.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WP Directory Kit: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Directory Kit 1.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2279https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/8a7a6da3-d67c-42b3-8826-7e7fc9b938b4https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2279

Related records

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