WordPress Simple Security 1.1.5 Cross Site Scripting

`Advisory ID: HTB23244  
Product: Simple Security WordPress Plugin  
Vendor: MyWebsiteAdvisor   
Vulnerable Version(s): 1.1.5 and probably prior  
Tested Version: 1.1.5  
Advisory Publication: December 17, 2014 [without technical details]  
Vendor Notification: December 17, 2014   
Public Disclosure: January 14, 2015   
Vulnerability Type: Cross-Site Scripting [CWE-79]  
CVE Reference: CVE-2014-9570  
Risk Level: Low   
CVSSv2 Base Score: 2.6 (AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N)  
Solution Status: Solution Available  
Discovered and Provided: High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab ( https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/ )   
  
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Advisory Details:  
  
High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab discovered two XSS vulnerabilities in Simple Security WordPress plugin, which can be exploited to perform Cross-Site Scripting attacks against administrators of WP websites with the vulnerable plugin.  
  
  
1) Two Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerabilities in Simple Security Wordpress Plugin: CVE-2014-9570  
  
The discovered vulnerabilities can be used by attackers to steal administrator's cookies of a vulnerable website. This can lead to total website compromise.   
  
Attackers can also perform drive-by-download attacks against website admin by injecting malware or exploit-packs into vulnerable scripts.  
  
1.1 User-supplied input passed via the "datefilter" HTTP GET parameter to "/wp-admin/users.php" script is not properly sanitised before being returned to the administrator. A remote attacker can trick a logged-in administrator to open a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in his browser in the context of the vulnerable website.  
  
The exploitation example below uses the "alert()" JavaScript function to display "ImmuniWeb" word:  
  
http://[host]/wp-admin/users.php?page=access_log&datefilter=%27%22%3E%3Cscript%3Ealert%28/ImmuniWeb/%29;%3C/script%3E  
  
1.2 User input passed via the "simple_security_ip_blacklist[]" HTTP POST parameter to "/wp-admin/users.php" script is not properly filtered before being returned to the administrator. A remote attacker can trick a logged-in administrator to open a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in browser in context of the vulnerable website.  
  
Below we provide a basic XSS exploit that uses JS "alert()" function to display "ImmuniWeb" pop-up:  
  
  
<form action="http://[host]/wp-admin/users.php?page=ip_blacklist" method="post" name="main">  
<input type="hidden" name="page" value="access_log">  
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="add_blacklist_ip">  
<input type="hidden" name="simple_security_ip_blacklist[]" value="'><script>alert('ImmuniWeb');</script>">  
<input type="submit" id="btn">  
</form>  
  
  
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Solution:  
  
Disclosure timeline:  
2014-12-17 Vendor Alerted via contact form.  
2014-01-02 Vendor Alerted via contact form and emails.  
2014-01-12 Fix Requested via contact form and emails.  
2014-01-14 Public disclosure with self-written patch.  
  
Currently we are not aware of any official solution for this vulnerability.  
Unofficial patch was developed by High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab and is available here: https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23244-patch.zip  
  
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References:  
  
[1] High-Tech Bridge Advisory HTB23244 - https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23244 - Two XSS vulnerabilities in Simple Security WordPress plugin.  
[2] Simple Security Wordpress Plugin - http://mywebsiteadvisor.com/ - Simple Security Plugin for WordPress is a basic Access Log system that can monitor successful and failed login attempts and block IP addresses.  
[3] Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) - http://cve.mitre.org/ - international in scope and free for public use, CVE® is a dictionary of publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures.  
[4] Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) - http://cwe.mitre.org - targeted to developers and security practitioners, CWE is a formal list of software weakness types.  
[5] ImmuniWeb® SaaS - https://www.htbridge.com/immuniweb/ - hybrid of manual web application penetration test and cutting-edge vulnerability scanner available online via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.  
  
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this Advisory is provided "as is" and without any warranty of any kind. Details of this Advisory may be updated in order to provide as accurate information as possible. The latest version of the Advisory is available on web page [1] in the References.  
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