CVE-2015-10114 in WooSidebars Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/05/2023
A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in WooSidebars Plugin up to 1.4.1 on WordPress. Affected by this issue is the function enable_custom_post_sidebars of the file classes/class-woo-sidebars.php. The manipulation of the argument sendback leads to open redirect. The attack may be launched remotely. Upgrading to version 1.4.2 is able to address this issue. The patch is identified as 1ac6d6ac26e185673f95fc1ccc56a392169ba601. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. VDB-230654 is the identifier assigned to this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/30/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-10114 represents a critical open redirect flaw within the WooSidebars WordPress plugin, specifically affecting versions prior to 1.4.2. This issue resides in the enable_custom_post_sidebars function located within the classes/class-woo-sidebars.php file, demonstrating how seemingly minor code components can create significant security risks in content management systems. The vulnerability's classification as problematic stems from its remote exploitation potential, making it particularly dangerous in environments where attackers can influence user navigation through crafted URLs.
The technical implementation of this flaw involves improper validation of the sendback argument within the plugin's redirect functionality. When users navigate to specific pages or perform certain actions within the WordPress admin interface, the plugin processes user-supplied input without adequate sanitization or validation. This allows malicious actors to inject arbitrary URLs into the redirect mechanism, effectively creating a vector for open redirect attacks. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the WordPress plugin architecture and its handling of user input through HTTP parameters.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables attackers to perform phishing attacks, social engineering campaigns, and user deception by redirecting victims to malicious domains. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers do not require physical access to the target system or administrative privileges within the WordPress environment. Users may be unknowingly redirected from legitimate WordPress admin pages to attacker-controlled websites, potentially leading to credential theft, malware distribution, or further exploitation of the compromised session. The attack vector typically involves crafting malicious URLs that leverage the vulnerable sendback parameter to redirect users to attacker-controlled domains.
The remediation process involves upgrading to version 1.4.2 of the WooSidebars plugin, which incorporates a patch identified by the commit hash 1ac6d6ac26e185673f95fc1ccc56a392169ba601. This patch addresses the input validation issue by properly sanitizing the sendback parameter before processing it within the redirect function. Security best practices recommend immediate deployment of this update across all affected WordPress installations, as the vulnerability remains exploitable in older versions. The patch implementation aligns with CWE-601 principles for secure redirect handling, ensuring that user-provided redirection targets are validated against a trusted domain list or properly encoded to prevent malicious redirection.
Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of the affected plugin version across their WordPress deployments, particularly in environments where multiple administrators may have access to the plugin configuration. The vulnerability's presence in a widely used plugin like WooSidebars demonstrates how third-party components can introduce security risks into otherwise secure WordPress installations, emphasizing the importance of maintaining up-to-date plugin versions and implementing proper security monitoring. This vulnerability also highlights the need for adherence to ATT&CK framework principles regarding web application security, specifically targeting the T1584 technique of obtaining access through compromised credentials and the T1071.001 technique of application layer protocols for command and control communications.