Vulnerabilities > CVE-2015-5730 - Information Exposure vulnerability in Wordpress
Attack vector
NETWORK Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL Integrity impact
NONE Availability impact
NONE Summary
The sanitize_widget_instance function in wp-includes/class-wp-customize-widgets.php in WordPress before 4.2.4 does not use a constant-time comparison for widgets, which allows remote attackers to conduct a timing side-channel attack by measuring the delay before inequality is calculated.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Subverting Environment Variable Values The attacker directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The attacker's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the attacker.
- Footprinting An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
- Exploiting Trust in Client (aka Make the Client Invisible) An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities in client/server communication channel authentication and data integrity. It leverages the implicit trust a server places in the client, or more importantly, that which the server believes is the client. An attacker executes this type of attack by placing themselves in the communication channel between client and server such that communication directly to the server is possible where the server believes it is communicating only with a valid client. There are numerous variations of this type of attack.
- Browser Fingerprinting An attacker carefully crafts small snippets of Java Script to efficiently detect the type of browser the potential victim is using. Many web-based attacks need prior knowledge of the web browser including the version of browser to ensure successful exploitation of a vulnerability. Having this knowledge allows an attacker to target the victim with attacks that specifically exploit known or zero day weaknesses in the type and version of the browser used by the victim. Automating this process via Java Script as a part of the same delivery system used to exploit the browser is considered more efficient as the attacker can supply a browser fingerprinting method and integrate it with exploit code, all contained in Java Script and in response to the same web page request by the browser.
- Session Credential Falsification through Prediction This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.
Nessus
NASL family Fedora Local Security Checks NASL id FEDORA_2015-12148.NASL description **WordPress 4.2.4 Security and Maintenance Release** WordPress 4.2.4 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. This release addresses six issues, including three cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential SQL injection that could be used to compromise a site, which were discovered by Marc-Alexandre Montpas of Sucuri, Helen Hou-Sandi of the WordPress security team, Netanel Rubin of Check Point, and Ivan Grigorov. It also includes a fix for a potential timing side-channel attack, discovered by Johannes Schmitt of Scrutinizer, and prevents an attacker from locking a post from being edited, discovered by Mohamed A. Baset. Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues. WordPress 4.2.4 also fixes four bugs. For more information, see: the release notes or consult the list of changes. - the release notes: https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.4 - the list of changes: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.2?rev=3 3573&stop_rev=33396 **WordPress 4.2.3 Security and Maintenance Release** WordPress 4.2.3 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. WordPress versions 4.2.2 and earlier are affected by a cross-site scripting vulnerability, which could allow users with the Contributor or Author role to compromise a site. This was initially reported by Jon Cave and fixed by Robert Chapin, both of the WordPress security team, and later reported by Jouko Pynnonen. We also fixed an issue where it was possible for a user with Subscriber permissions to create a draft through Quick Draft. Reported by Netanel Rubin from Check Point Software Technologies. Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues. WordPress 4.2.3 also contains fixes for 20 bugs from 4.2. For more information, see : - the release notes: https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.3 - the list of changes: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.2?rev=3 3382&stop_rev=32430 Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues. last seen 2020-06-05 modified 2015-08-14 plugin id 85389 published 2015-08-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2020 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85389 title Fedora 21 : wordpress-4.2.4-1.fc21 (2015-12148) NASL family CGI abuses NASL id WORDPRESS_4_2_4.NASL description According to its version number, the WordPress application running on the remote web server is prior to 4.2.4. It is, therefore, potentially affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - A SQL injection vulnerability exists in the post.php script due to a failure to sanitize user-supplied input to the last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 85243 published 2015-08-05 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85243 title WordPress < 4.2.4 Multiple Vulnerabilities NASL family Debian Local Security Checks NASL id DEBIAN_DSA-3332.NASL description Several vulnerabilities have been fixed in Wordpress, the popular blogging engine. - CVE-2015-2213 SQL Injection allowed a remote attacker to compromise the site. - CVE-2015-5622 The robustness of the shortcodes HTML tags filter has been improved. The parsing is a bit more strict, which may affect your installation. This is the corrected version of the patch that needed to be reverted in DSA 3328-2. - CVE-2015-5730 A potential timing side-channel attack in widgets. - CVE-2015-5731 An attacker could lock a post that was being edited. - CVE-2015-5732 Cross site scripting in a widget title allows an attacker to steal sensitive information. - CVE-2015-5734 Fix some broken links in the legacy theme preview. The issues were discovered by Marc-Alexandre Montpas of Sucuri, Helen Hou-Sandi of the WordPress security team, Netanel Rubin of Check Point, Ivan Grigorov, Johannes Schmitt of Scrutinizer and Mohamed A. Baset. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 85355 published 2015-08-13 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2018 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85355 title Debian DSA-3332-1 : wordpress - security update NASL family Fedora Local Security Checks NASL id FEDORA_2015-12235.NASL description **WordPress 4.2.4 Security and Maintenance Release** WordPress 4.2.4 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. This release addresses six issues, including three cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential SQL injection that could be used to compromise a site, which were discovered by Marc-Alexandre Montpas of Sucuri, Helen Hou-Sandi of the WordPress security team, Netanel Rubin of Check Point, and Ivan Grigorov. It also includes a fix for a potential timing side-channel attack, discovered by Johannes Schmitt of Scrutinizer, and prevents an attacker from locking a post from being edited, discovered by Mohamed A. Baset. Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues. WordPress 4.2.4 also fixes four bugs. For more information, see: the release notes or consult the list of changes. - the release notes: https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.4 - the list of changes: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.2?rev=3 3573&stop_rev=33396 **WordPress 4.2.3 Security and Maintenance Release** WordPress 4.2.3 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. WordPress versions 4.2.2 and earlier are affected by a cross-site scripting vulnerability, which could allow users with the Contributor or Author role to compromise a site. This was initially reported by Jon Cave and fixed by Robert Chapin, both of the WordPress security team, and later reported by Jouko Pynnonen. We also fixed an issue where it was possible for a user with Subscriber permissions to create a draft through Quick Draft. Reported by Netanel Rubin from Check Point Software Technologies. Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues. WordPress 4.2.3 also contains fixes for 20 bugs from 4.2. For more information, see : - the release notes: https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.3 - the list of changes: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.2?rev=3 3382&stop_rev=32430 Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues. last seen 2020-06-05 modified 2015-08-14 plugin id 85390 published 2015-08-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2020 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85390 title Fedora 22 : wordpress-4.2.4-1.fc22 (2015-12235) NASL family Fedora Local Security Checks NASL id FEDORA_2015-12750.NASL description **WordPress 4.2.4 Security and Maintenance Release** WordPress 4.2.4 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. This release addresses six issues, including three cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential SQL injection that could be used to compromise a site, which were discovered by Marc-Alexandre Montpas of Sucuri, Helen Hou-Sandi of the WordPress security team, Netanel Rubin of Check Point, and Ivan Grigorov. It also includes a fix for a potential timing side-channel attack, discovered by Johannes Schmitt of Scrutinizer, and prevents an attacker from locking a post from being edited, discovered by Mohamed A. Baset. Our thanks to those who have practiced responsible disclosure of security issues. WordPress 4.2.4 also fixes four bugs. For more information, see: the release notes or consult the list of changes. - the release notes: https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.4 - the list of changes: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.2?rev=3 3573&stop_rev=33396 Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues. last seen 2020-06-05 modified 2015-08-11 plugin id 85317 published 2015-08-11 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2020 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85317 title Fedora 23 : wordpress-4.2.4-1.fc23 (2015-12750) NASL family FreeBSD Local Security Checks NASL id FREEBSD_PKG_AC5EC8E33C6C11E5B92100A0986F28C4.NASL description Gary Pendergast reports : WordPress 4.2.4 fixes three cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and a potential SQL injection that could be used to compromise a site. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 85258 published 2015-08-07 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2015-2018 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/85258 title FreeBSD : wordpress -- Multiple vulnerability (ac5ec8e3-3c6c-11e5-b921-00a0986f28c4)
References
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/08/04/7
- http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3332
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76160
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033178
- https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.2.4
- https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/33535
- https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/33536
- https://wordpress.org/news/2015/08/wordpress-4-2-4-security-and-maintenance-release/
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/8130