Vulnerabilities > CVE-2013-5739 - Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in Wordpress

047910
CVSS 3.5 - LOW
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
SINGLE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
NONE
network
wordpress
CWE-79
nessus

Summary

The default configuration of WordPress before 3.6.1 does not prevent uploads of .swf and .exe files, which might make it easier for remote authenticated users to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks via a crafted file, related to the get_allowed_mime_types function in wp-includes/functions.php.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Wordpress
265

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Cross Site Scripting through Log Files
    An attacker may leverage a system weakness where logs are susceptible to log injection to insert scripts into the system's logs. If these logs are later viewed by an administrator through a thin administrative interface and the log data is not properly HTML encoded before being written to the page, the attackers' scripts stored in the log will be executed in the administrative interface with potentially serious consequences. This attack pattern is really a combination of two other attack patterns: log injection and stored cross site scripting.
  • Embedding Scripts in Non-Script Elements
    This attack is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) where malicious scripts are embedded in elements that are not expected to host scripts such as image tags (<img>), comments in XML documents (< !-CDATA->), etc. These tags may not be subject to the same input validation, output validation, and other content filtering and checking routines, so this can create an opportunity for an attacker to tunnel through the application's elements and launch a XSS attack through other elements. As with all remote attacks, it is important to differentiate the ability to launch an attack (such as probing an internal network for unpatched servers) and the ability of the remote attacker to collect and interpret the output of said attack.
  • Embedding Scripts within Scripts
    An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities that are brought on by allowing remote hosts to execute scripts. The attacker leverages this capability to execute scripts to execute his/her own script by embedding it within other scripts that the target software is likely to execute. The attacker must have the ability to inject script into script that is likely to be executed. If this is done, then the attacker can potentially launch a variety of probes and attacks against the web server's local environment, in many cases the so-called DMZ, back end resources the web server can communicate with, and other hosts. With the proliferation of intermediaries, such as Web App Firewalls, network devices, and even printers having JVMs and Web servers, there are many locales where an attacker can inject malicious scripts. Since this attack pattern defines scripts within scripts, there are likely privileges to execute said attack on the host. Of course, these attacks are not solely limited to the server side, client side scripts like Ajax and client side JavaScript can contain malicious scripts as well. In general all that is required is for there to be sufficient privileges to execute a script, but not protected against writing.
  • Cross-Site Scripting in Error Pages
    An attacker distributes a link (or possibly some other query structure) with a request to a third party web server that is malformed and also contains a block of exploit code in order to have the exploit become live code in the resulting error page. When the third party web server receives the crafted request and notes the error it then creates an error message that echoes the malformed message, including the exploit. Doing this converts the exploit portion of the message into to valid language elements that are executed by the viewing browser. When a victim executes the query provided by the attacker the infected error message error message is returned including the exploit code which then runs in the victim's browser. XSS can result in execution of code as well as data leakage (e.g. session cookies can be sent to the attacker). This type of attack is especially dangerous since the exploit appears to come from the third party web server, who the victim may trust and hence be more vulnerable to deception.
  • Cross-Site Scripting Using Alternate Syntax
    The attacker uses alternate forms of keywords or commands that result in the same action as the primary form but which may not be caught by filters. For example, many keywords are processed in a case insensitive manner. If the site's web filtering algorithm does not convert all tags into a consistent case before the comparison with forbidden keywords it is possible to bypass filters (e.g., incomplete black lists) by using an alternate case structure. For example, the "script" tag using the alternate forms of "Script" or "ScRiPt" may bypass filters where "script" is the only form tested. Other variants using different syntax representations are also possible as well as using pollution meta-characters or entities that are eventually ignored by the rendering engine. The attack can result in the execution of otherwise prohibited functionality.

Nessus

  • NASL familyFreeBSD Local Security Checks
    NASL idFREEBSD_PKG_043D3A78F24549389BC73D0D35DD94BF.NASL
    descriptionThe wordpress development team reports : - Block unsafe PHP unserialization that could occur in limited situations and setups, which can lead to remote code execution. - Prevent a user with an Author role, using a specially crafted request, from being able to create a post
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id70515
    published2013-10-20
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2013-2018 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/70515
    titleFreeBSD : wordpress -- multiple vulnerabilities (043d3a78-f245-4938-9bc7-3d0d35dd94bf)
  • NASL familyCGI abuses
    NASL idWORDPRESS_3_6_1.NASL
    descriptionAccording to its version number, the WordPress install hosted on the remote web server is affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - Unsafe PHP de-serialization could occur in limited situations and setups, which could lead to remote code execution. (CVE-2013-4338) - Open redirect/insufficient input validation could allow attackers to redirect users to a malicious website. (CVE-2013-4339) - A user with an Author role, using a specially crafted request, can forge a post that appears to be posted by another user. (CVE-2013-4340) - As a proactive measure to prevent cross-site scripting attacks, extensions .swf, .exe, .htm, and .html are filtered from file uploading. (CVE-2013-5738, CVE-2013-5739) Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id69997
    published2013-09-19
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2013-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/69997
    titleWordPress < 3.6.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities
  • NASL familyMandriva Local Security Checks
    NASL idMANDRIVA_MDVSA-2013-239.NASL
    descriptionUpdated wordpress and php-phpmailer packages fix security vulnerabilities : wp-includes/functions.php in WordPress before 3.6.1 does not properly determine whether data has been serialized, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by triggering erroneous PHP unserialize operations (CVE-2013-4338). WordPress before 3.6.1 does not properly validate URLs before use in an HTTP redirect, which allows remote attackers to bypass intended redirection restrictions via a crafted string (CVE-2013-4339). wp-admin/includes/post.php in WordPress before 3.6.1 allows remote authenticated users to spoof the authorship of a post by leveraging the Author role and providing a modified user_ID parameter (CVE-2013-4340). The get_allowed_mime_types function in wp-includes/functions.php in WordPress before 3.6.1 does not require the unfiltered_html capability for uploads of .htm and .html files, which might make it easier for remote authenticated users to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks via a crafted file (CVE-2013-5738). The default configuration of WordPress before 3.6.1 does not prevent uploads of .swf and .exe files, which might make it easier for remote authenticated users to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks via a crafted file, related to the get_allowed_mime_types function in wp-includes/functions.php (CVE-2013-5739). Additionally, php-phpmailer has been updated to a newer version required by the updated wordpress.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id70005
    published2013-09-20
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2013-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/70005
    titleMandriva Linux Security Advisory : wordpress (MDVSA-2013:239)
  • NASL familyDebian Local Security Checks
    NASL idDEBIAN_DSA-2757.NASL
    descriptionSeveral vulnerabilities were identified in Wordpress, a web blogging tool. As the CVEs were allocated from releases announcements and specific fixes are usually not identified, it has been decided to upgrade the Wordpress package to the latest upstream version instead of backporting the patches. This means extra care should be taken when upgrading, especially when using third-party plugins or themes, since compatibility may have been impacted along the way. We recommend that users check their install before doing the upgrade. - CVE-2013-4338 Unsafe PHP unserialization in wp-includes/functions.php could cause arbitrary code execution. - CVE-2013-4339 Insufficient input validation could result in redirecting or leading a user to another website. - CVE-2013-4340 Privilege escalation allowing an user with an author role to create an entry appearing as written by another user. - CVE-2013-5738 Insufficient capabilities were required for uploading .html/.html files, making it easier for authenticated users to conduct cross-site scripting attacks (XSS) using crafted html file uploads. - CVE-2013-5739 Default Wordpress configuration allowed file upload for .swf/.exe files, making it easier for authenticated users to conduct cross-site scripting attacks (XSS).
    last seen2020-03-17
    modified2013-09-15
    plugin id69895
    published2013-09-15
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2013-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/69895
    titleDebian DSA-2757-1 : wordpress - several vulnerabilities