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Wp Cli CVE-2021-29504

HIGH
Improper Certificate Validation (CWE-295)
2021-06-07 security-advisories@github.com
7.4
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
7.4 HIGH
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

1
CVE Published
Jun 07, 2021 - 21:15 nvd
HIGH 7.4

DescriptionNVD

WP-CLI is the command-line interface for WordPress. An improper error handling in HTTPS requests management in WP-CLI version 0.12.0 and later allows remote attackers able to intercept the communication to remotely disable the certificate verification on WP-CLI side, gaining full control over the communication content, including the ability to impersonate update servers and push malicious updates towards WordPress instances controlled by the vulnerable WP-CLI agent, or push malicious updates toward WP-CLI itself. The vulnerability stems from the fact that the default behavior of WP_CLI\Utils\http_request() when encountering a TLS handshake error is to disable certificate validation and retry the same request. The default behavior has been changed with version 2.5.0 of WP-CLI and the wp-cli/wp-cli framework (via https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523) so that the WP_CLI\Utils\http_request() method accepts an $insecure option that is false by default and consequently that a TLS handshake failure is a hard error by default. This new default is a breaking change and ripples through to all consumers of WP_CLI\Utils\http_request(), including those in separate WP-CLI bundled or third-party packages. https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523 has also added an --insecure flag to the cli update command to counter this breaking change. There is no direct workaround for the default insecure behavior of wp-cli/wp-cli versions before 2.5.0. The workaround for dealing with the breaking change in the commands directly affected by the new secure default behavior is to add the --insecure flag to manually opt-in to the previous insecure behavior.

AnalysisAI

WP-CLI is the command-line interface for WordPress. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-295. WP-CLI is the command-line interface for WordPress. An improper error handling in HTTPS requests management in WP-CLI version 0.12.0 and later allows remote attackers able to intercept the communication to remotely disable the certificate verification on WP-CLI side, gaining full control over the communication content, including the ability to impersonate update servers and push malicious updates towards WordPress instances controlled by the vulnerable WP-CLI agent, or push malicious updates toward WP-CLI itself. The vulnerability stems from the fact that the default behavior of WP_CLI\Utils\http_request() when encountering a TLS handshake error is to disable certificate validation and retry the same request. The default behavior has been changed with version 2.5.0 of WP-CLI and the wp-cli/wp-cli framework (via https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523) so that the WP_CLI\Utils\http_request() method accepts an $insecure option that is false by default and consequently that a TLS handshake failure is a hard error by default. This new default is a breaking change and ripples through to all consumers of WP_CLI\Utils\http_request(), including those in separate WP-CLI bundled or third-party packages. https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523 has also added an --insecure flag to the cli update command to counter this breaking change. There is no direct workaround for the default insecure behavior of wp-cli/wp-cli versions before 2.5.0. The workaround for dealing with the breaking change in the commands directly affected by the new secure default behavior is to add the --insecure flag to manually opt-in to the previous insecure behavior. Affected products include: Wp-Cli. Version information: version 0.12.0.

RemediationAI

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.

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CVE-2021-29504 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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