CVE-2023-47682 - Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability in weDevs WP User Frontend Allows Privilege Escalation

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) today, powering over 40% of websites on the internet. Its flexibility and user-friendliness have made it an appealing choice for website creators and developers alike. But with great power comes great responsibility. Ensuring the security of users' data and the proper management of privileges is crucial for any website admin. Unfortunately, weDevs WP User Frontend, a popular WordPress plugin, has been found to have a vulnerability that allows for privilege escalation.

This post aims to discuss the improper privilege management vulnerability in weDevs WP User Frontend, a plugin responsible for providing frontend submission and dashboard functionalities for WordPress websites. The vulnerability, tracked under the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifier CVE-2023-47682, affects versions from n/a through 3.6.5 of the plugin.

The Vulnerability

The CVE-2023-47682 vulnerability in weDevs WP User Frontend was discovered by a researcher who noticed that improper privilege management could allow an attacker to escalate their privileges and gain unauthorized access to a WordPress site's backend. This could result in unauthorized access to sensitive user data, modifications to website content, and various other malicious activities such as installing backdoors, escalating privileges, wreaking havoc on the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of a website's resources.

The vulnerability exists due to improper authentication checks when processing certain user actions. Specifically, it is related to the lack of sufficient checks on an API endpoint when handling user role updates. The code snippet below demonstrates the faulty implementation:

function wpuf_update_role() {
    if ( ! isset( $_POST['wpuf_update_role_nonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['wpuf_update_role_nonce'], 'wpuf-update-role' ) ) {
        return;
    }

    $user_id         = $_POST['user_id'];
    $subscription_id = $_POST['subscription_id'];
    $wpuf_user       = get_user_by( 'id', $user_id );

    if ( ! $wpuf_user ) {
        return;
    }

    wpuf_update_user_subscription( $user_id, (int) $subscription_id );

    do_action( 'wpuf-update-profile-after-update-role', $user_id, $subscription_id, $wpuf_user );
}

add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wpuf_update_role' );

As seen in the code snippet above, the wpuf_update_role() function, which is responsible for processing user role updates, does not check whether the user making the request has sufficient privileges to perform the action. This allows an attacker to craft and submit a request to change their own role or any other user's role, granting them unauthorized administrative access to the WordPress site, thereby facilitating privilege escalation.

Official References and Disclosure

The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed by the researcher, and weDevs, the developers of the WP User Frontend plugin, have acknowledged the vulnerability and provided a patch to fix the issue. You can find the detailed disclosure and patch information on the following links:

- CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration a list of software and hardware weakness types) entry: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/732.html
- CVE-2023-47682 Official Disclosure: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-47682
- weDevs Patch Release: https://wedevs.com/wp-user-frontend/changelog/

Mitigation and Recommendations

To prevent exploitation of the CVE-2023-47682 vulnerability in your WordPress site, we advise you to take the following steps:

Update the WP User Frontend plugin to the latest version (3.6.6 or later) as soon as possible.

2. If updating is not possible, consider disabling the plugin or implementing additional security measures to discourage unauthorized access, such as using a dedicated security plugin or a robust Web Application Firewall (WAF).

It is crucial to keep your WordPress plugins and themes up to date, as plugin vulnerabilities are a constant target for cybercriminals and threat actors. Prioritize patching known vulnerabilities and continuously improve the overall security posture of your WordPress site to effectively mitigate online threats.

Timeline

Published on: 05/17/2024 09:15:11 UTC
Last modified on: 06/06/2024 12:48:31 UTC