CVE-2022-40205 - Insecure Direct Object References Vulnerability in wpForo Forum Plugin for WordPress

WordPress, being a widely used Content Management System (CMS), attracts the attention of both ethical and malicious hackers. Recently, an Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR) vulnerability has been discovered in the wpForo Forum plugin (version 2..5 and below) for WordPress. This vulnerability allows users with Subscriber or higher user roles to mark any forum post as solved/unsolved. In this post, we will discuss the details of this vulnerability, dubbed as CVE-2022-40205, provide a code snippet to demonstrate the vulnerability, and discuss possible exploit scenarios.

Vulnerability Details

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2022-40205, resides in the wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress (<= 2..5). It is an Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR) vulnerability that occurs when the application directly exposes a reference to an internal implementation object, such as a database primary key. Due to a lack of proper authorization mechanisms, an attacker with subscriber or higher user roles can mark any forum post as solved/unsolved.

The following code snippet demonstrates the vulnerability in the wpForo Forum plugin

// Function within wpForo plugin (<= 2..5) vulnerable to IDOR
public function ajax(){
    $resp = array('stat'=>,'msg'=>'', 'solved'=>);
    ...
    if( WPF()->current_userid && WPF()->perm->forum_can('sv', $topic['forumid']) ){
        $solved = intval($_POST['solved']);
        $resp['solved'] = $solved;
        if( isset($args['solved']) ){
            if( !$solved ){
                $args['solved'] = ;
            }
            elseif( $solved == 1 ){
                $args['solved'] = 1;
            }
        }
        $args = apply_filters('wpforo_topic_solved_before', $args);
        if( !empty($args) && WPF()->topic->edit($args, $topic['topicid']) ){
            $resp['stat'] = 1;
            $resp['msg'] = 'Done!';
        }
    }
    ...
    wp_send_json($resp);
}

As observed, the code lacks proper authorization checks, allowing users with Subscriber or higher user roles to mark any forum post as solved/unsolved by sending a crafted HTTP request.

Exploit Scenarios

An attacker, who has successfully gained subscriber or higher user rights on a WordPress site using the wpForo Forum plugin (<= 2..5), can mark any forum post as solved/unsolved, leading to potential misinformation or manipulation of forum discussions.

Links to Original References

1. Official CVE Details: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2022-40205
2. National Vulnerability Database (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-40205

Mitigation Measures

To protect against this vulnerability, users are advised to update the wpForo Forum plugin to the latest version. In addition, website administrators should implement proper access controls and user authorization mechanisms to govern the actions that users can perform on the platform.

Conclusion

The IDOR vulnerability (CVE-2022-40205) in the wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress (<= 2..5) allows attackers to mark any forum post as solved/unsolved, potentially leading to misinformation or manipulation of forum discussions amongst subscribers or higher user roles. It is crucial for website administrators to keep their plugins updated and implement effective user authorization mechanisms to mitigate the risks associated with this vulnerability.

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Timeline

Published on: 11/08/2022 19:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/09/2022 13:57:00 UTC