Vulnerabilities > CVE-2018-20152 - Improper Input Validation vulnerability in multiple products

047910
CVSS 6.5 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
HIGH
Availability impact
NONE
network
low complexity
wordpress
debian
CWE-20
nessus
NVD
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

In WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, authors could bypass intended restrictions on post types via crafted input.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Wordpress
822
OS
Debian
2

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
  • Server Side Include (SSI) Injection
    An attacker can use Server Side Include (SSI) Injection to send code to a web application that then gets executed by the web server. Doing so enables the attacker to achieve similar results to Cross Site Scripting, viz., arbitrary code execution and information disclosure, albeit on a more limited scale, since the SSI directives are nowhere near as powerful as a full-fledged scripting language. Nonetheless, the attacker can conveniently gain access to sensitive files, such as password files, and execute shell commands.
  • Cross Zone Scripting
    An attacker is able to cause a victim to load content into their web-browser that bypasses security zone controls and gain access to increased privileges to execute scripting code or other web objects such as unsigned ActiveX controls or applets. This is a privilege elevation attack targeted at zone-based web-browser security. In a zone-based model, pages belong to one of a set of zones corresponding to the level of privilege assigned to that page. Pages in an untrusted zone would have a lesser level of access to the system and/or be restricted in the types of executable content it was allowed to invoke. In a cross-zone scripting attack, a page that should be assigned to a less privileged zone is granted the privileges of a more trusted zone. This can be accomplished by exploiting bugs in the browser, exploiting incorrect configuration in the zone controls, through a cross-site scripting attack that causes the attackers' content to be treated as coming from a more trusted page, or by leveraging some piece of system functionality that is accessible from both the trusted and less trusted zone. This attack differs from "Restful Privilege Escalation" in that the latter correlates to the inadequate securing of RESTful access methods (such as HTTP DELETE) on the server, while cross-zone scripting attacks the concept of security zones as implemented by a browser.
  • 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.
  • Command Line Execution through SQL Injection
    An attacker uses standard SQL injection methods to inject data into the command line for execution. This could be done directly through misuse of directives such as MSSQL_xp_cmdshell or indirectly through injection of data into the database that would be interpreted as shell commands. Sometime later, an unscrupulous backend application (or could be part of the functionality of the same application) fetches the injected data stored in the database and uses this data as command line arguments without performing proper validation. The malicious data escapes that data plane by spawning new commands to be executed on the host.

Nessus

  • NASL familyCGI abuses
    NASL idWORDPRESS_5_0_1.NASL
    descriptionAccording to its self-reported version number, the WordPress application running on the remote web server is prior to 4.9.9, or 5.x prior to 5.0.1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities due to improper validation of user-supplied input before returning it to users.
    last seen2020-04-30
    modified2018-12-13
    plugin id119615
    published2018-12-13
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2018-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/119615
    titleWordPress < 4.9.9 / 5.x < 5.0.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(119615);
  script_version("1.6");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2020/04/27");

  script_cve_id(
    "CVE-2018-20147",
    "CVE-2018-20148",
    "CVE-2018-20149",
    "CVE-2018-20150",
    "CVE-2018-20151",
    "CVE-2018-20152",
    "CVE-2018-20153"
  );

  script_name(english:"WordPress < 4.9.9 / 5.x < 5.0.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities");
  script_summary(english:"Checks the version of WordPress.");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"A PHP application running on the remote web server is affected by
multiple vulnerabilities.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"According to its self-reported version number, the WordPress
application running on the remote web server is prior to 4.9.9, or
5.x prior to 5.0.1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple
vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities
due to improper validation of user-supplied input before returning
it to users.");
  # https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/wordpress-5-0-1-security-release/
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?b90fd4fc");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Upgrade to WordPress version 4.9.9 or 5.0.1 or later.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2018-20148");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/12/13");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2018/12/13");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2018/12/13");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"potential_vulnerability", value:"true");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:wordpress:wordpress");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"CGI abuses");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("wordpress_detect.nasl");
  script_require_keys("www/PHP", "installed_sw/WordPress", "Settings/ParanoidReport");
  script_require_ports("Services/www", 80, 443);

  exit(0);
}

include("vcf.inc");
include("http.inc");

if (report_paranoia < 2) audit(AUDIT_PARANOID);

app = "WordPress";
port = get_http_port(default:80, php:TRUE);

app_info = vcf::get_app_info(app:app, port:port, webapp:TRUE);
vcf::check_granularity(app_info:app_info, sig_segments:2);

# Per https://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/
# only 5.x is currently supported :
# "None of these are safe to use, except the latest in the 5.0 series, which is actively maintained."
constraints = [
  { "fixed_version":"3.7.28", "fixed_display" : "3.7.28 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"3.8", "fixed_version":"3.8.28", "fixed_display" : "3.8.28 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"3.9", "fixed_version":"3.9.26", "fixed_display" : "3.9.26 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.0", "fixed_version":"4.0.25", "fixed_display" : "4.0.25 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.1", "fixed_version":"4.1.25", "fixed_display" : "4.1.25 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.2", "fixed_version":"4.2.22", "fixed_display" : "4.2.22 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.3", "fixed_version":"4.3.18", "fixed_display" : "4.3.18 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.4", "fixed_version":"4.4.17", "fixed_display" : "4.4.17 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.5", "fixed_version":"4.5.16", "fixed_display" : "4.5.16 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.6", "fixed_version":"4.6.13", "fixed_display" : "4.6.13 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.7", "fixed_version":"4.7.12", "fixed_display" : "4.7.12 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.8", "fixed_version":"4.8.8", "fixed_display" : "4.8.8 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"4.9", "fixed_version":"4.9.9", "fixed_display" : "4.9.9 / 5.0.1" },
  { "min_version":"5.0", "fixed_version":"5.0.1", "fixed_display" : "5.0.1" }
];

vcf::check_version_and_report(
  app_info:app_info,
  constraints:constraints,
  severity:SECURITY_HOLE,
  flags:{xss:TRUE}
);
  • NASL familyDebian Local Security Checks
    NASL idDEBIAN_DSA-4401.NASL
    descriptionSeveral vulnerabilities were discovered in Wordpress, a web blogging tool. They allowed remote attackers to perform various Cross-Side Scripting (XSS) and PHP injections attacks, delete files, leak potentially sensitive data, create posts of unauthorized types, or cause denial-of-service by application crash.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id122551
    published2019-03-04
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/122551
    titleDebian DSA-4401-1 : wordpress - security update
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were  
# extracted from Debian Security Advisory DSA-4401. The text 
# itself is copyright (C) Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(122551);
  script_version("1.4");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/04/10 16:10:16");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-20147", "CVE-2018-20148", "CVE-2018-20149", "CVE-2018-20150", "CVE-2018-20151", "CVE-2018-20152", "CVE-2018-20153", "CVE-2019-8942");
  script_xref(name:"DSA", value:"4401");

  script_name(english:"Debian DSA-4401-1 : wordpress - security update");
  script_summary(english:"Checks dpkg output for the updated package");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote Debian host is missing a security-related update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"Several vulnerabilities were discovered in Wordpress, a web blogging
tool. They allowed remote attackers to perform various Cross-Side
Scripting (XSS) and PHP injections attacks, delete files, leak
potentially sensitive data, create posts of unauthorized types, or
cause denial-of-service by application crash."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=916403"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/source-package/wordpress"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://packages.debian.org/source/stretch/wordpress"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4401"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:
"Upgrade the wordpress packages.

For the stable distribution (stretch), these problems have been fixed
in version 4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5."
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:F/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:F/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"Exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"true");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"metasploit_name", value:'WordPress Crop-image Shell Upload');
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_framework_metasploit", value:"true");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:9.0");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/12/14");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/03/01");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/03/04");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Debian Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/Debian/release", "Host/Debian/dpkg-l");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("debian_package.inc");


if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Debian/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Debian");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);


flag = 0;
if (deb_check(release:"9.0", prefix:"wordpress", reference:"4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"9.0", prefix:"wordpress-l10n", reference:"4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"9.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentyfifteen", reference:"4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"9.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentyseventeen", reference:"4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"9.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentysixteen", reference:"4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_hole(port:0, extra:deb_report_get());
  else security_hole(0);
  exit(0);
}
else audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, "affected");
  • NASL familyDebian Local Security Checks
    NASL idDEBIAN_DLA-1673.NASL
    descriptionCVE-2018-20147 Authors could modify metadata to bypass intended restrictions on deleting files. CVE-2018-20148 Contributors could conduct PHP object injection attacks via crafted metadata in a wp.getMediaItem XMLRPC call. This is caused by mishandling of serialized data at phar:// URLs in the wp_get_attachment_thumb_file function in wp-includes/post.php. CVE-2018-20149 When the Apache HTTP Server is used, authors could upload crafted files that bypass intended MIME type restrictions, leading to XSS, as demonstrated by a .jpg file without JPEG data. CVE-2018-20150 Crafted URLs could trigger XSS for certain use cases involving plugins. CVE-2018-20151 The user-activation page could be read by a search engine
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id122100
    published2019-02-12
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/122100
    titleDebian DLA-1673-1 : wordpress security update
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from Debian Security Advisory DLA-1673-1. The text
# itself is copyright (C) Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(122100);
  script_version("1.2");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/02/13");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-20147", "CVE-2018-20148", "CVE-2018-20149", "CVE-2018-20150", "CVE-2018-20151", "CVE-2018-20152", "CVE-2018-20153");

  script_name(english:"Debian DLA-1673-1 : wordpress security update");
  script_summary(english:"Checks dpkg output for the updated packages.");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote Debian host is missing a security update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"CVE-2018-20147

Authors could modify metadata to bypass intended restrictions on
deleting files.

CVE-2018-20148 Contributors could conduct PHP object injection attacks
via crafted metadata in a wp.getMediaItem XMLRPC call. This is caused
by mishandling of serialized data at phar:// URLs in the
wp_get_attachment_thumb_file function in wp-includes/post.php.

CVE-2018-20149

When the Apache HTTP Server is used, authors could upload crafted
files that bypass intended MIME type restrictions, leading to XSS, as
demonstrated by a .jpg file without JPEG data.

CVE-2018-20150

Crafted URLs could trigger XSS for certain use cases involving
plugins.

CVE-2018-20151

The user-activation page could be read by a search engine's web
crawler if an unusual configuration were chosen. The search engine
could then index and display a user's e-mail address and (rarely) the
password that was generated by default.

CVE-2018-20152

Authors could bypass intended restrictions on post types via crafted
input.

CVE-2018-20153

Contributors could modify new comments made by users with greater
privileges, possibly causing XSS.

For Debian 8 'Jessie', these problems have been fixed in version
4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1.

We recommend that you upgrade your wordpress packages.

NOTE: Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description
block directly from the DLA security advisory. Tenable has attempted
to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without
introducing additional issues."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/02/msg00019.html"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://packages.debian.org/source/jessie/wordpress"
  );
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Upgrade the affected packages.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress-l10n");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress-theme-twentyfifteen");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress-theme-twentyfourteen");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:wordpress-theme-twentythirteen");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:8.0");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/12/14");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/02/11");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/02/12");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Debian Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/Debian/release", "Host/Debian/dpkg-l");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("debian_package.inc");


if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Debian/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Debian");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);


flag = 0;
if (deb_check(release:"8.0", prefix:"wordpress", reference:"4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"8.0", prefix:"wordpress-l10n", reference:"4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"8.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentyfifteen", reference:"4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"8.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentyfourteen", reference:"4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1")) flag++;
if (deb_check(release:"8.0", prefix:"wordpress-theme-twentythirteen", reference:"4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_hole(port:0, extra:deb_report_get());
  else security_hole(0);
  exit(0);
}
else audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, "affected");

References