CVE-2023-1597 in tagDiv Cloud Library Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/10/2023
The tagDiv Cloud Library WordPress plugin before 2.7 does not have authorisation and CSRF in an AJAX action accessible to both unauthenticated and authenticated users, allowing unauthenticated users to change arbitrary user metadata, which could lead to privilege escalation by setting themselves as an admin of the blog.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/16/2023
The tagDiv Cloud Library WordPress plugin version 2.7 and earlier contains a critical security vulnerability that stems from insufficient authorization controls and the absence of CSRF protection mechanisms within its AJAX endpoints. This vulnerability exists in the plugin's handling of user metadata modifications and provides a pathway for unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges within the WordPress environment. The flaw specifically affects the plugin's AJAX action that manages user metadata, which is accessible to both authenticated and unauthenticated users without proper verification of user permissions or request authenticity. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the plugin's security architecture where the lack of proper access controls allows any user to manipulate sensitive user data through the plugin's interface.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of the plugin's AJAX endpoint that handles user metadata updates. Attackers can leverage this weakness to modify user profiles and set arbitrary metadata values, including administrative privileges, without requiring valid authentication credentials or session tokens. The absence of CSRF protection means that malicious actors can craft requests that appear legitimate to the WordPress system, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses standard web application security controls. This vulnerability specifically targets the WordPress user management system and allows for privilege escalation by enabling unauthenticated users to assume administrative roles within the blog environment. The exploitation process involves sending crafted requests to the vulnerable AJAX endpoint that modifies user capabilities and permissions, effectively granting the attacker administrative access to the WordPress installation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the security model of WordPress installations using the affected plugin. Once an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they gain complete administrative control over the blog, enabling them to modify content, install malicious plugins, access sensitive data, and potentially use the compromised system as a launching point for further attacks within the network. The vulnerability affects both the integrity and confidentiality aspects of the WordPress security model, as it allows unauthorized modification of user data and potential access to privileged information. This issue represents a significant risk to WordPress sites because it can be exploited by anyone with access to the web application, regardless of their authentication status, and can lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that it affects the core user management functionality of WordPress, making it a prime target for attackers seeking persistent access to web applications.
Organizations using the tagDiv Cloud Library plugin should immediately update to version 2.7 or later to remediate this vulnerability, as the fix implements proper authorization checks and CSRF protection mechanisms. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-863, which describes inadequate authorization controls, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege in web application security. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and can be leveraged to establish persistence within WordPress environments. Security teams should also implement network monitoring to detect suspicious AJAX requests and consider implementing additional security layers such as web application firewalls to protect against exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and access control implementation in WordPress plugins, as well as the necessity of regular security audits to identify similar issues in third-party components that may affect the overall security posture of web applications.