The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently disclosed a high-impact vulnerability (CVE-2023-46074) affecting Borbis Media FreshMail for WordPress plugin. Versions 2.3.2 and older are subject to an unauthorized Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability, giving attackers the capability to inject malicious scripts and potentially compromise a website's security and user data. In this post, we will discuss the exploit's details, provide code snippets, and link to original references that help understand and mitigate this vulnerability.
Exploit Details
FreshMail by Borbis Media is a WordPress plugin designed to help manage email marketing campaigns, lists, and subscribers. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-46074, exploits the "email" parameter, allowing an attacker to inject malicious scripts into the application. It affects versions 2.3.2 and lower of this plugin.
Researchers discovered the security flaw during an internal assessment, and the issue directly affects the admin.php file within the plugin. When an attacker exploits this vulnerability, they can inject malicious JavaScript code into the vulnerable parameter. This injected code can then be executed in the admin's browser whenever they load the affected page, resulting in security breaches.
Here is a code snippet illustrating the vulnerability
// admin.php file
$email = $_GET['email'];
?>
<input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo $email; ?>" />
In this code snippet, the $email variable is not sanitized or cleared of potential XSS payloads before being rendered on the webpage. As a result, an attacker can send a crafted URL containing malicious JavaScript code, which can then be executed when the admin opens the URL in their browser.
For example, the attacker can send a link like this to achieve XSS
http://example.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=freshmail&email=<script>alert("XSS")</script>;
When the user clicks on this link, the JavaScript code sandwiched between <script> tags would be executed, causing an alert box with the message "XSS" to appear.
Original References
- Vulnerability disclosure: CISA Advisory
- FreshMail plugin: WordPress Plugin Repository
Mitigation
As of now, the plugin's developers have not released an updated version that addresses this vulnerability. However, you can take the following steps to protect your WordPress installation:
Uninstall the Borbis Media FreshMail plugin if it is version 2.3.2 or lower.
2. Regularly check for updates on the WordPress Plugin Repository and the plugin’s changelog to identify any fixes addressing this vulnerability.
3. Use an alternative email marketing plugin such as MailerLite or MailChimp.
4. Verify that your WordPress site follows the security best practices.
Conclusion
The CVE-2023-46074 vulnerability showcases the importance of securing plugins within your WordPress setup. Exploitation of this flaw can lead to unauthorized access to user data or injection of malicious content into your website. We advise vigilantly monitoring for updates addressing the vulnerabilities in any plugins you use and implementing security best practices to safeguard your WordPress installation.
Timeline
Published on: 10/26/2023 12:15:08 UTC
Last modified on: 10/30/2023 16:21:25 UTC