CVE-2023-3168 in WP Reroute Email Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/12/2023
The WP Reroute Email plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via an email subject in versions up to, and including, 1.4.9 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/24/2023
The WP Reroute Email plugin for WordPress presents a critical security vulnerability classified as CVE-2023-3168, affecting versions up to and including 1.4.9. This vulnerability manifests as a stored cross-site scripting flaw that specifically targets the email subject field within the plugin's functionality. The issue arises from inadequate input sanitization mechanisms and insufficient output escaping practices, creating a persistent security risk that can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers without requiring any privileged access or user interaction beyond visiting affected pages.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to properly validate and sanitize user-supplied input before storing it in the database. When administrators or users view email subjects that have been manipulated by an attacker, the malicious script code gets executed within the browser context of any user who accesses these pages. This stored XSS vulnerability operates through the plugin's email routing functionality, where email subjects are displayed in administrative interfaces or user-facing pages without proper HTML escaping or sanitization. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or further exploitation of the compromised user accounts.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-3168 extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform actions that compromise the entire WordPress installation. When administrators access pages containing maliciously injected email subjects, they become potential victims of session fixation attacks, where attackers can hijack administrative sessions and gain full control over the WordPress site. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for data exfiltration, as malicious scripts can collect sensitive information from the browser context or redirect users to phishing sites. Additionally, the persistent nature of stored XSS means that once an attacker successfully injects malicious code, it will continue to execute for any user who views the affected pages until the malicious content is manually removed from the database.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a direct violation of CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. The weakness represents a failure in input validation and output encoding practices that aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which covers the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities through malicious input injection. Organizations using the WP Reroute Email plugin should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest available version, implementing web application firewalls, and conducting thorough security audits of all plugin installations. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper input sanitization and output escaping as fundamental security practices that should be enforced across all web applications to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.
The exploitation of CVE-2023-3168 demonstrates how seemingly innocuous input fields can become entry points for sophisticated attacks when proper security controls are absent. This vulnerability serves as a reminder that all user-supplied data must be treated as potentially malicious and properly validated before being stored or displayed in web applications. The incident underscores the critical need for implementing comprehensive security testing procedures including input validation, output encoding, and regular security assessments to identify and remediate such vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors in the wild.