CVE-2014-8606

Backup, Restore and Migrate WordPress Sites With the XCloner Plugin <= 3.1.1 - Directory Traversal

2014-10-17 00:00
Larry W. Cashdollar

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.1.2
Affected Plugin
Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner
Affected Version
< 3.1.2
CVSS
4.9Medium
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE-2014-8606
View all Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2014-8606 is a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 3.1.2. It carries a CVSS score of 4.9 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). The issue is fixed in version 3.1.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2014, reported by Larry W. Cashdollar.

Vulnerability Overview

Directory traversal vulnerability in the XCloner plugin 3.1.1 for WordPress and 3.5.1 for Joomla! allows remote administrators to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the file parameter in a json_return action in the xcloner_show page to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php.

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 Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner < 3.1.2 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner the fix is 3.1.2: builds < 3.1.2 are affected, anything from 3.1.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.1.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner 3.1.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-8606https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a9bffba4-5bcd-4ef7-a8d8-84ba452827abhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-8606

Related records

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