{"id":86161,"date":"2025-12-30T01:58:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T01:58:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T06:00:00","slug":"cve-2023-1405-formidable-forms-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-allowing-php-object-injection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-1405-formidable-forms-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-allowing-php-object-injection\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2023-1405: Formidable Forms WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Allowing PHP Object Injection<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has identified a significant vulnerability, CVE-2023-1405, in the Formidable Forms WordPress plugin version 6.2 and earlier. This vulnerability allows anonymous users to perform PHP Object Injection, potentially compromising system integrity and exposing sensitive data. Given the extensive use of WordPress plugins, this vulnerability is a cause for concern for administrators and users alike.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2023-1405<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.5 CVSS)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: System compromise and potential data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2911324092\" 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>Formidable Forms WordPress Plugin | Before 6.2<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability arises from the Formidable Forms WordPress plugin\u2019s insecure handling of user input. The plugin unserializes user input without proper validation, which could allow an attacker to inject malicious PHP objects. These objects, when executed, could lead to arbitrary code execution, allowing an attacker to gain unauthorized access and control over the system. Moreover, if a suitable gadget is present, the vulnerability can be exploited without any user interaction or privileges.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2561199734\" 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>Given the nature of this vulnerability, an attacker could exploit it by sending a POST request with a malicious payload. Below is a conceptual example of such a request:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/json\n{ &quot;action&quot;: &quot;frm_forms_preview&quot;, &quot;form&quot;: {&quot;form_id&quot;: &quot;1&quot;, &quot;form_key&quot;: &quot;form_key&quot;, &quot;item_meta&quot;: {&quot;0&quot;: &quot;a:1:{i:0;O:8:\\&quot;stdClass\\&quot;:1:{s:4:\\&quot;test\\&quot;;s:15:\\&quot;malicious_code\\&quot;;}}}&quot;}} }<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the &#8220;malicious_code&#8221; represents the injected PHP object. If successful, this injection can lead to unauthorized system access.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to immediately apply the vendor-supplied patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, temporary mitigation can be achieved by employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to identify and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has identified a significant vulnerability, CVE-2023-1405, in the Formidable Forms WordPress plugin version 6.2 and earlier. This vulnerability allows anonymous users to perform PHP Object Injection, potentially compromising system integrity and exposing sensitive data. Given the extensive use of WordPress plugins, this vulnerability is a cause for [&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":[],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-86161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86161","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=86161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=86161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}