Home » wordpress plugin » Page 2

Tag: wordpress plugin

NinjaForms < 3.0.32 allows injecting arbitrary WordPress shortcodes

by James Golovich

Back in March 2016 Ninja Forms version 3.0 started to roll out, there was an unknown vulnerability at the time that allowed unauthenticated end users to inject arbitrary WordPress shortcodes via form field submissions. The issue was resolved in version 3.0.31.

The default WordPress shortcodes do not provide much further access and accessing the [ninja-forms] shortcode would only allow an attacker to preview un-published forms. While these shortcodes could allow leverage for further attacks by default this is a very minor issue, though if a site has additional plugins installed that provide shortcodes then this vulnerability could be leveraged to execute those.

Timeline

  • 10/27/2016 First contact to vendor regarding issue
  • 10/27/2016 Received vendor support reply saying they will forward on the issue
  • 11/9/2016 Version 3.0.15 released
  • 11/10/2016 Second contact regarding issue
  • 11/21/2016 Version 3.0.16 released
  • 11/22/2016 Third contact regarding issue
  • 12/6/2016 Version 3.0.18 released
  • 2/28/2016 Version 3.0.30 released
  • 3/2/2017 Fourth attempt regarding issue
  • 3/3/2017 Reply from developer saying they see the issue and will be resolved
  • 3/7/2017 Version 3.0.31 released

Ultimate Member < 1.3.76 Critical Security Issue

by James Golovich

Ultimate Member versions less than 1.3.76 contain a critical security issue that allows unauthenticated users to reset any users password to an arbitrary value. This could allow an external attacker to take over an Administrator account and completely compromise the WordPress website. The WordPress.org repository claims there are 40,000+ active installs of this plugin, though there is no way of knowing how many are running vulnerable versions.

If you are running an older version, upgrade immediately. This flaw exists as far back as 1.0.0, which was the initial release of the plugin. The change log for the plugin doesn’t mention the specific flaw and at this time I have not seen an announcement from the Ultimate Member developer. On December 8th, the developer published a blog post and a twitter post regarding the issue.

Details

Due to the severity of this vulnerability, I will not provide specific details of the vulnerability at this time.

Timeline

  • 11/22/2016 12:00pm Sent vulnerability information to vendor
  • 11/23/2016 3:40am Vendor replied saying issue was resolved with github commit b66c99b
  • 11/23/2016 8:45am Sent followup to vendor explaining additional vulnerability
  • 11/28/2016 4:52am Received vendor response saying additional fix was added with github commit c54e8d3
  • 11/28/2016 Ultimate Member version 1.3.76 released

PeepSo <= 1.6.0 Logged in user privilege escalation

by James Golovich

During my recent search for a membership/community plugin I discovered PeepSo, which looks promising for a relatively new product. The WordPress.org plugin page claims there are 800+ users, so this isn’t going to affect too many users.

During initial analysis, I discovered a vulnerability that allows a logged in user to upgrade their account to be an administrator. If you are using PeepSo <= 1.6.0, upgrade immediately.

The developers were quick to respond and deal with this issue, the updated version restricts the meta keys that can be updated.

PeepSo AJAX Actions

PeepSo has implemented their own AJAX handler that is handled differently than the typical WordPress AJAX handler. Their handler allows any function that is a derivative of the PeepSoAjaxCallback class to be called by any user and it is up to the individual functions to provide any form of security. This isn’t necessarily a bad setup, but it does require developers to be extra careful when adding additional functionality.

Unfiltered User Input

A logged in user can call the PeepSoProfilePreferencesAjax->save() function and save meta data for their own account. The function does keep users from modifying an account other than their own. Simply by passing the ‘wp_capabilities’ meta key, a user can escalate their account to be an administrator.

peepso-usersave1

 

Timeline

  • 6/22/2016 3:10pm Contact information requested
  • 6/22/2016 7:10pm Response received from developer
  • 6/22/2016 7:19pm Disclosure email sent
  • 6/23/2016 2:31am Received copy of updated version of code
  • 6/29/2016 Version 1.6.1 released on WordPress.org