{"id":21383,"date":"2025-04-11T10:52:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T10:52:22","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-06T12:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:01:14","slug":"cve-2023-6991-critical-ssrf-vulnerability-in-jsm-s-file-get-contents-shortcode-wordpress-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-6991-critical-ssrf-vulnerability-in-jsm-s-file-get-contents-shortcode-wordpress-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2023-6991: Critical SSRF Vulnerability in JSM&#8217;s file_get_contents() Shortcode WordPress Plugin<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE-2023-6991 is a significant cybersecurity vulnerability that affects the JSM file_get_contents() Shortcode WordPress plugin. This flaw could enable attackers, especially those with contributor role and above, to perform Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks. Such an attack allows an attacker to cause the server to make requests to internal resources within the network, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-0572-critical-vulnerability-in-totolink-lr1200gb-leading-to-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"28979\">leading to potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage. Given the extensive use of WordPress, this vulnerability is a considerable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/enhancing-k-12-cybersecurity-the-urgent-need-to-protect-smaller-state-and-local-entities\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"24820\">cybersecurity concern that needs<\/a> immediate addressing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2023-6991<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (8.8 CVSS Severity Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low (Contributor role and above)<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-0573-critical-vulnerability-in-totolink-lr1200gb-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"29039\">System compromise and potential<\/a> data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3320021648\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>JSM&#8217;s file_get_contents() Shortcode <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-6140-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-essential-real-estate-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"24583\">WordPress Plugin<\/a> | Before 2.7.1<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability lies in the lack of validation of one of its shortcode&#8217;s parameters by the JSM file_get_contents() Shortcode <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-6532-cross-site-request-forgery-vulnerability-in-wp-blogs-planetarium-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-summary\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"25035\">WordPress plugin<\/a>. This omission means that when a request is made, an attacker with contributor role and above can manipulate this parameter to initiate SSRF attacks. By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-47992-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-exploit-in-freeimage-library\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"25580\">exploiting this vulnerability<\/a>, an attacker can make the WordPress server send a request to an arbitrary address, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information or system compromise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-129900153\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>A hypothetical example of how this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/fortinet-s-fortigate-vulnerability-ssl-vpn-symlink-exploit-puts-user-access-at-risk-post-patching\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"33180\">vulnerability might be exploited<\/a> is an HTTP request that contains a malicious payload. The payload might be a URL that the server would then request, potentially exposing sensitive data or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-29048-remote-code-execution-via-oxmf-template-injection-in-open-xchange-app-suite\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"24575\">executing malicious code<\/a>. Here is a conceptual example:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/vulnerable\/shortcode HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/json\n{ &quot;shortcode_parameter&quot;: &quot;http:\/\/malicious.example.com&quot; }<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, an attacker with a contributor role sends a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32567-critical-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-easy-post-duplicator\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"33179\">POST request to the vulnerable<\/a> shortcode endpoint, with the shortcode_parameter set to a malicious URL. The server, due to the vulnerability, does not validate this parameter and makes a request to the malicious URL, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-0576-critical-vulnerability-in-totolink-lr1200gb-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"29369\">potentially leading<\/a> to SSRF attack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Measures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43971-critical-vulnerability-in-gobgp-paving-the-way-for-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"40116\">way to address this vulnerability<\/a> is to apply the vendor patch. JSM has released a patch in version 2.7.1 of the plugin, so users should update as soon as possible. If immediate patching is not possible, users can try to mitigate the risk temporarily by using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect and block any SSRF attempts. However, these measures are not foolproof and should not replace patching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview CVE-2023-6991 is a significant cybersecurity vulnerability that affects the JSM file_get_contents() Shortcode WordPress plugin. This flaw could enable attackers, especially those with contributor role and above, to perform Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks. Such an attack allows an attacker to cause the server to make requests to internal resources within the network, leading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[101],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-21383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-ssrf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21383"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35439,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21383\/revisions\/35439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=21383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}