CVE-2012-4920

Forums < 1.4.4 - Directory Traversal

2013-01-09 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.4.4
Affected Plugin: Forums
Affected Version: < 1.4.4
CVSS: 7.5High
Weakness type: CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE: CVE-2012-4920

At a glance

CVE-2012-4920 is a high-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Forums WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.4.4. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.4.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2013, reported by Charlie Eriksen.

Vulnerability Overview

Directory traversal vulnerability in the zing_forum_output function in forum.php in the Zingiri Forum (aka Forums) plugin before 1.4.4 for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the url parameter to index.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 privileges on the target site, 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 Forums < 1.4.4 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 Forums the fix is 1.4.4: builds < 1.4.4 are affected, anything from 1.4.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.4.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Forums: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Forums 1.4.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4920 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d791cd67-03a8-4408-8ca7-7b1ea613e660 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4920

CVSS Vector

7.5

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

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