MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) <= 2.1.6 - Cross-Site Scripting

2012-11-22 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.1.7
Affected Plugin: MailPoet Newsletters (Previous)
Affected Version: <= 2.1.6
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE pending

View all MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.1.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2012, reported by Ryan Dewhurst.

Vulnerability Overview

The Wysija Newsletters plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting via the swfupload.swf applet in versions up to, and including, 2.1.6 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute in a victim's browser.

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-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) <= 2.1.6 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.

Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) the fix is 2.1.7: builds <= 2.1.6 are affected, anything from 2.1.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.1.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to MailPoet Newsletters (Previous): WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: MailPoet Newsletters (Previous) 2.1.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/401f5d57-ce3d-46c1-bfa9-c8fab99a7e31

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in MailPoet Newsletters (Previous)

CVSS Vector

6.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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