WordPress PressForward 4.3.0 Cross Site Scripting

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DefenseCode ThunderScan SAST Advisory  
WordPress PressForward Plugin  
Security Vulnerability  
  
  
Advisory ID: DC-2017-05-007  
Advisory Title: WordPress PressForward Plugin Security Vulnerability  
Advisory URL: http://www.defensecode.com/advisories.php  
Software: WordPress PressForward plugin  
Language: PHP  
Version: 4.3.0 and below  
Vendor Status: Vendor contacted  
Release Date: 2017/08/07  
Risk: Medium  
  
  
  
1. General Overview  
===================  
During the security audit of PressForward plugin for WordPress CMS,  
security vulnerability was discovered using DefenseCode ThunderScan  
application source code security analysis platform.  
  
More information about ThunderScan is available at URL:  
http://www.defensecode.com  
  
  
2. Software Overview  
====================  
According to the plugin developers, PressForward provides an editorial  
workflow for content aggregation and curation within the WordPress  
dashboard. It is designed for bloggers and editorial teams who wish to  
collect, discuss, and share content from a variety of sources on the  
open web.  
  
It's users and partners include numerous universities, centers,  
laboratories, colleges and various kinds of organizations.  
  
Homepage:  
https://wordpress.org/plugins/pressforward/  
http://pressforward.org/  
  
  
3. Vulnerability Description  
============================  
During the security analysis, ThunderScan discovered Cross-Site  
Scripting vulnerability in PressForward WordPress plugin.  
  
The Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability can enable the attacker to  
construct the URL that contains malicious JavaScript code. If the  
administrator of the site makes a request to such an URL, the  
attacker's code will be executed, with unrestricted access to the  
WordPress site in question. The attacker can entice the administrator  
to visit the URL in various ways, including sending the URL by email,  
posting it as a part of the comment on the vulnerable site or another  
forum.  
  
The vulnerability was tested using Apache web server.  
  
3.1 Cross-Site Scripting  
Vulnerable Function: echo  
Vulnerable Variable: $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']  
Vulnerable URL:   
http://vulnerablesite.com/wp-admin/admin.php/%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=x%20onerror=alert(42)%3E/?page=pf-menu#ready  
File: pressforward-master\Core\Admin\PFTemplater.php  
---------  
198 <form id="feeds-search" method="post" action="<?php echo  
basename( $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ) . '?' . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] .  
'&action=post'; ?>">  
---------  
  
  
4. Solution  
===========  
Vendor should resolve the security issues in next release. All users  
are strongly advised to update WordPress PressForward plugin to the  
latest available version as soon as the vendor releases an update that  
fixes the vulnerability.  
  
  
5. Credits  
==========  
Discovered with DefenseCode ThunderScan source code security analyzer  
by Neven Biruski.  
  
  
6. Disclosure Timeline  
======================  
2017/05/31 Vendor contacted  
2017/08/07 Advisory released to the public  
  
  
7. About DefenseCode  
====================  
DefenseCode L.L.C. delivers products and services designed to analyze  
and test web, desktop and mobile applications for security  
vulnerabilities.  
  
DefenseCode ThunderScan is a SAST (Static Application Security  
Testing, WhiteBox Testing) solution for performing extensive security  
audits of application source code. ThunderScan SAST performs fast and  
accurate analyses of large and complex source code projects delivering  
precise results and low false positive rate.  
  
DefenseCode WebScanner is a DAST (Dynamic Application Security  
Testing, BlackBox Testing) solution for comprehensive security audits  
of active web applications. WebScanner will test a website's security  
by carrying out a large number of attacks using the most advanced  
techniques, just as a real attacker would.  
  
Subscribe for free software trial on our website  
http://www.defensecode.com/ .  
  
E-mail: defensecode[at]defensecode.com  
  
Website: http://www.defensecode.com  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DefenseCode/  
  
  
  
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