CVE-2022-46865 in Bulk Resize Media Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/25/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Marty Thornley Bulk Resize Media plugin <= 1.1 versions.
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/25/2023
The CVE-2022-46865 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Bulk Resize Media plugin for WordPress, specifically affecting versions 1.1 and earlier. This vulnerability resides in the plugin's handling of administrative requests, where proper CSRF protection mechanisms are absent or insufficiently implemented. The issue stems from the plugin's failure to validate the origin of requests made to its administrative endpoints, creating a scenario where authenticated administrators can be tricked into executing unintended actions through maliciously crafted requests. The vulnerability directly violates security principles outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and aligns with CWE-352, which categorizes cross-site request forgery as a fundamental web application security weakness. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious web pages or emails that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable plugin's administrative functions without the user's knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs at the plugin's administrative interface level where it processes media resizing operations. When an administrator accesses the plugin's settings or performs bulk media operations, the application fails to implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or referer validation checks. This absence allows attackers to construct malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate administrative sessions. The vulnerability specifically impacts the plugin's ability to distinguish between authorized and unauthorized requests, creating a pathway for privilege escalation attacks. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and insufficient request origin verification, which are core requirements for secure web application development as defined by the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard. The lack of proper session management and request authenticity checks enables attackers to manipulate the plugin's administrative functions through carefully crafted cross-site requests.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-46865 extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially compromise entire WordPress installations through unauthorized administrative actions. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can perform bulk media resizing operations with elevated privileges, potentially leading to denial of service conditions through resource exhaustion or unauthorized modification of media files. The vulnerability creates a persistent threat vector that remains active as long as the affected plugin version is installed and active on the WordPress site. This flaw particularly affects websites that rely heavily on media management and have multiple administrators with varying privilege levels. The attack surface is broad since any authenticated administrator session can be targeted, making this vulnerability especially dangerous in environments where administrators frequently access the web application from potentially compromised networks or devices. The exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004, which covers valid accounts and credential access, as it leverages existing administrative sessions to perform unauthorized actions.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-46865 primarily focus on immediate plugin updates to versions that address the CSRF implementation issues. System administrators should prioritize updating the Bulk Resize Media plugin to the latest available version that includes proper CSRF token validation and request origin checking mechanisms. Organizations should implement additional security controls such as network-based firewalls to restrict access to administrative endpoints and web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious requests. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional protection against cross-site request forgery attacks by controlling which domains can submit requests to the vulnerable endpoints. Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments should be conducted to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other plugins and themes. The remediation process should include thorough testing of the updated plugin to ensure that legitimate administrative functions continue to operate correctly while the CSRF protection mechanisms are properly enforced. Organizations should also consider implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and monitoring administrative session activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date third-party components and following secure coding practices that include proper CSRF protection mechanisms as mandated by industry security standards and best practices.