CVE-2013-3479 in ShareThis
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the ShareThis plugin before 7.0.6 for WordPress allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that modify this plugin s settings.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2017
The CVE-2013-3479 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the ShareThis WordPress plugin ecosystem. This vulnerability specifically affects versions prior to 7.0.6 and exposes administrators to significant security risks through the manipulation of authenticated requests. The flaw operates by allowing remote attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate administrators, thereby bypassing standard authentication mechanisms that should protect plugin configuration changes. The vulnerability resides in the plugin's handling of HTTP requests and lacks proper CSRF token validation, creating an exploitable gap in the security model that protects WordPress administrator sessions.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the ShareThis plugin's failure to implement adequate request verification mechanisms. When administrators interact with the plugin's settings interface, the system should validate that requests originate from legitimate sources through the use of anti-CSRF tokens or similar validation techniques. However, the vulnerable versions of the plugin do not enforce such validations, allowing attackers to construct malicious web pages or email attachments that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to modify plugin settings. This flaw directly violates the principle of least privilege and undermines the integrity of the WordPress administrative interface. The vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery conditions in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing attacks that leverage CSRF vectors.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple configuration modifications, as it provides attackers with potential access to sensitive administrative functions within the WordPress environment. Successful exploitation could result in unauthorized changes to plugin settings, potentially enabling attackers to inject malicious code, alter sharing configurations, or redirect traffic through compromised plugin functionality. Administrators who visit malicious websites or click on compromised links while logged into their WordPress admin panels become unwitting participants in the attack, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous due to its reliance on user interaction. The attack vector typically involves social engineering components where attackers craft convincing phishing pages or exploit existing user trust relationships to execute automated requests. This vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to establish persistent access through plugin modifications that could serve as footholds for further compromise of the WordPress installation. Organizations running affected versions of the ShareThis plugin face significant risk of unauthorized administrative access and potential complete compromise of their WordPress environments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-3479 focus primarily on immediate plugin updates to version 7.0.6 or later, which contain the necessary CSRF protection mechanisms. System administrators should implement comprehensive monitoring of plugin configuration changes and establish regular security audits to detect unauthorized modifications. Additional protective measures include implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious request patterns, enforcing strict access controls for administrative functions, and conducting regular security training for administrators to recognize phishing attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of keeping third-party WordPress plugins updated and maintaining robust security monitoring practices. Organizations should also consider implementing additional authentication layers such as two-factor authentication and regular security scanning to protect against similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other components of their WordPress installations. The remediation process should include thorough testing of updated plugin versions to ensure compatibility with existing WordPress configurations and security measures.