Contact Form by WPForms <= 1.7.5.3 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Arbitrary File Access via Path Traversal

2022-09-19 00:00
Sybre Waaijer

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.7.5.5
Affected Plugin
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More
Affected Version
<= 1.7.5.3
CVSS
6.8Medium
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE pending
View all WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the WPForms WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.7.5.3. It carries a CVSS score of 6.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.7.5.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2022, reported by Sybre Waaijer.

Vulnerability Overview

The Contact Form by WPForms plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal via email template paths in versions up to, and including, 1.7.5.3. This allows administrator-level attackers to read the contents of arbitrary files on the server, which can contain sensitive information.

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.

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Reaching this weakness in WPForms <= 1.7.5.3 takes an account at Administrator level or above. Path traversal happens when user-controlled text is used to build a filesystem path without being constrained to an intended directory, so sequences like ../ walk the resolved path somewhere else.

Depending on the operation, it means reading files outside the intended folder — wp-config.php being the usual target — or writing to and deleting paths the web server can touch. For WPForms the fix is 1.7.5.5: builds <= 1.7.5.3 are affected, anything from 1.7.5.5 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.7.5.5, 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: WPForms 1.7.5.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a2ad2c0d-542e-4b40-91a8-19b27297545e

Related records

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