Hackers target vulnerable WordPress plugins as they provide a potential entry point to exploit website security weaknesses.
These plugins often have outdated code or known vulnerabilities, which make them attractive targets for malicious actors seeking:-
Unauthorized access to the websites
To inject malicious code into websites
Recently, on December 14th, 2023, during the Bug Bounty Program of Wordfence, which is dubbed “Holiday Bug Extravaganza,” the following cybersecurity researchers reported an “Authorization Bypass” vulnerability in “POST SMTP Mailer.”
Ulyses Saicha
Sean Murphy
This is a WordPress plugin with more than 300,000 active installations, and successfully exploiting this bug could let the hackers reset the API key.
Document
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Poppins&display=swap');
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Poppins&family=Roboto&display=swap');
*{
margin: 0; padding: 0;
text-decoration: none;
}
.container{
font-family: roboto, sans-serif;
width: 90%;
border: 1px solid lightgrey;
padding: 20px;
background: linear-gradient(2deg,#E0EAF1 100%,#BBD2E0 100%);
margin: 20px auto ;
border-radius: 40px 10px;
box-shadow: 5px 5px 5px #e2ebff;
}
.container:hover{
box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px #e2ebff;
}
.container .title{
color: #015689;
font-size: 22px;
font-weight: bolder;
}
.container .title{
text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px lightgrey;
}
.container .title:after {
width: 50px;
height: 2px;
content: ' ';
position: absolute;
background-color: #015689;
margin: 20px 8px;
}
.container h2{
line-height: 40px;
margin: 2px 0;
font-weight: bolder;
}
.container a{
color: #170d51;
}
.container p{
font-size: 18px;
line-height: 30px;
}
.container button{
padding: 15px;
background-color: #4469f5;
border-radius: 10px;
border: none;
background-color: #00456e ;
font-size: 16px;
font-weight: bold;
margin-top: 5px;
}
.container button:hover{
box-shadow: 1px 1px 15px #015689;
transition: all 0.2S linear;
}
.container button a{
color: white;
}
hr{
/ display: none; /
}
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WordPress Plugin SMTP Flaw
Using the vulnerable Mailer plugin on WordPress sites, the vulnerability allows unauthorized threat actors to do the following things:-
Reset API keys
View logs
Access password reset emails
Hack sites
A critical vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-6875 with a VSS Score of 9.8, has been detected. It is highly recommended that users update to the patched version 2.8.8 to address the issue.
Another report unveiled that the POST SMTP Mailer had a Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability that allowed malicious scripts to be injected into websites.
The cybersecurity researchers earned a handsome bounty reward from the Bounty Program Extravaganza, and here below, we have mentioned the reward figures:-
Ulyses Saicha earned $4,125
Sean Murphy earned $825
On December 8, 2023, the cybersecurity analysts at Wordfence notified WPExperts.io about the vulnerability, and by December 10, 2023, they received the response.
In response, WPExperts[.]io developers acted promptly and issued a patch on January 1, 2024. Not only that, they even urged all the users to immediately update their vulnerable version to the latest patched version, 2.8.8.
Vulnerability in POST SMTP Mailer (up to version 2.8.7) allows unauthorized access and data modification via a type juggling issue in the connect-app REST endpoint.
Stored Cross-Site Scripting risk in POST SMTP Mailer (up to version 2.8.7) arises from inadequate input sanitization in the ‘device’ header, and unauthenticated attackers can inject harmful scripts.
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