Wordpress IMEMBER360IS 3.9.001 XSS / Discloure / Code Execute
This plugin is hailed by some as being one of the power tools of the "big boys" of net marketing, and according to author it installed on
some 5,000 sites worldwide.
Unfortunately, the author is openly hostile at the suggestion that there are problems with his code: attempts to alert him to the problems with the
plugin resulted in a flurry of insults, accusations, and nasty_grams to me and some others working on the project. He accused me of telling "blatant lies"
and fabricating screenshots of the vulnerabilities (!!!). So here we are in the disclosure list. Developers would do well to error on the side of
humility here and remember that the only acceptable response to a bug report you disagree with is "cannot reproduce," and this my sincere hope that
author gets therapy, security audit, or both: his customers deserve more than the incompetence and aggression.
VULNERABILITIES
* Disclosure of database credentials
* XSS Vulnerabilities
* Arbitrary user deletion
* Arbitrary code execution
AFFECTED VERSIONS
v3.8.012 thru v3.9.001
PROOF OF CONCEPT
Dictionary based URL scanning of site where the plugin is installed
revealed numerous $_GET parameters that triggered special functionality
that rarely seemed properly checked for permissions. The specific
vulnerabilities include:
DATABASE CREDENTIALS DISCLOSED
?i4w_dbinfo=
Prior to version 3.9.001, setting this parameter on a site where the plugin is installed would trigger the full database credentials to be printed,
included the database name, user, password, and encoding.
After version 3.9.001, this exploit requires that the user request an admin URL (e.g. as a registered subscriber).
XSS VULNERABILITIES
?decrypt=
?encrypt=
If set, both of these parameters will simply print what follows verbatim onto the page and exit: nothing else is printed. A phishing attack is quite simple here because the attackers do not have to camouflage anything:
the remote Javascript file can simply generate the *entire* page. Just a reminder that some hosts filter the $_GET parameters (e.g. escaping quotes) and not all browsers interpret malformed tags correctly, but there parameters are vulnerable to XSS attacks. On some setups with caching, this may result in a persistent XSS attack when subsequent page views serve up the compromised page.
DELETE ARBITRARY USERS
?i4w_clearuser=&Email=
If these 2 parameters are defined, named user will be *Deleted* from Wordpress database (one catch). The i4w_clearuse_ parameter match the API key used by plugin, but if plugin has not yet had license activated, then API key is null, so attack succeeds.
Wordpress login names are printed in comments or can be guessed (e.g. the ubiquitous "admin").
ARBITRARY CODE EXECUTION
?i4w_trace=;
The i4w_trace parameter passes unescaped values to the system shell when the page is being requested by an admin (the user must be authenticated as an administrator for this to work). Put any code you want in between the ";" and the "#". This makes for a dangerous phishing attack if you can convince an admin to click on a prepared link.
