Zippy <= 1.6.5 - Authenticated(Author+) PHP Object Injection via unzipPosts
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.6.6
- Affected Plugin
- Zippy
- Affected Version
<= 1.6.5- CVSS
- 7.5High
- Weakness type
- CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data
- CVE
CVE-2023-36381
At a glance
CVE-2023-36381 is a high-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in the Zippy WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.6.5. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Author level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.6.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2023, reported by Jeong Seong Ho.
Vulnerability Overview
The Zippy plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in versions up to, and including, 1.6.5 via deserialization of untrusted input in the vulnerable 'unzipPosts' function. This allows authenticated attackers with author-level permissions to inject a PHP Object. No POP chain is present in the vulnerable plugin. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Zippy <= 1.6.5 carries this weakness at unzipPosts, and reaching it takes an account at Author level or above. Deserialization of untrusted data means the application reconstructs objects from input a caller controls, letting the attacker choose which classes get instantiated and what their properties hold.
A workable chain turns deserialization into file writes, deletions or code execution, depending on what the loaded classes do in their magic methods. For Zippy the fix is 1.6.6: builds <= 1.6.5 are affected, anything from 1.6.6 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.6.6, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Author 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. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Zippy 1.6.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Zippy
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