Wordfence researchers have uncovered a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in the miniOrange WordPress Social Login and Register plugin, which could enable unauthenticated attackers to gain unauthorized access to any account on a website by knowing the associated email address. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-2982 with a CVSS Score of 9.8, affects versions up to and including 7.6.4 of the plugin, which is actively installed on over 30,000 WordPress websites.
The vulnerability is attributed to insufficient encryption on user information during the login process, allowing threat actors to log in as any user, including administrators, if they possess the corresponding email address.
According to WordFence’s advisory, the encryption key used for login information through social media accounts is hardcoded and not unique per WordPress installation.
Exploiting this weakness, attackers can craft a valid request containing a properly encrypted email address, which the vulnerable plugin uses during the login process to identify the user.
This ultimately enables threat actors to bypass authentication and gain access to arbitrary accounts on websites running the vulnerable version of the plugin. In case privileged user accounts are compromised, the attacker can potentially compromise the entire WordPress site that utilizes the vulnerable plugin.
The timeline of the discovery and disclosure process for this authentication bypass vulnerability in the WordPress Social Login and Register plugin is provided. Wordfence researchers discovered the flaw on May 28, 2023, and subsequently initiated contact with the plugin vendor.
After confirmation of the discussion, full disclosure details were shared on June 2, 2023, prompting the vendor to acknowledge the report and commence work on a fix. Wordfence also provided firewall rules to their premium users to protect against potential exploits targeting this vulnerability.
On June 14, 2023, a fully patched version of the plugin, 7.6.5, was released, ensuring the vulnerability was addressed. Wordfence Free users were also granted the same protection on July 2, 2023.
