Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:42:07 -0400
From: Patrick Kelley <psworn@...il.com>
To: Christian Sciberras <uuf6429@...il.com>
Cc: bugtraq@...urityfocus.com
Subject: Re: HTB22905: Path disclosure in Wordpress

My point-of-view is that anything can be made "insecure".  The
WordPress issue is avoidable by just configuring the server to common
standards of not displaying errors in a production environment.  That
seems pretty simple.  I can see instances where I would want the
software to reveal the path if needed to troubleshoot a WP instance.
That can be done in a controlled test environment by allowing errors
to be displayed through PHP.

Removing functionality to get around configuring the environment
properly seems counterproductive.

The Simple PHP Newsletter vulnerabilities from yesterday are a
highlight of the same thing.  Follow the instructions and remove the
install directory.  This is not an exploit or vulnerability in the
software, either.  Those directories are required to be there to
install and upon finishing installation, you remove them.  Problem
solved.

The Ubuntu releases in the last couple of days are actual software
issues in my opinion, not just poorly configured environments.

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Christian Sciberras <uuf6429@...il.com> wrote:
> I disagree. It is definitely a software issue.
>
> I just can't waste time with this, so I'll highlight a quick example;
> Firefox (as a clear example) comes with the right security dialogs
> enabled, even if you can later on tell it to always open exe files
> after download.
>
> The same can't be said for Wordpress, where it comes vulnerable by
> default. By the same reasoning, why does Wordpress ask for a user
> password during install? Why not a default one (and then tell people
> to change it in the manual)?
>
>
> Keep in mind I'm not viewing this from a pure security perspective;
> I'm foremost a software developer, not security specialist, and I see
> it good practice to build on solid practices.
>
> As to the watch analogy, I'm not sure I get it.
>
>
> Regards,
> Chris.
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 5:22 PM, Patrick Kelley <psworn@...il.com> wrote:
>> Seems like most of the "vulnerabilities" from the last couple days are
>> not actual software issues, but problems with configuration of the
>> server or just not following the directions provided by the vendor.
>>
>> If that is our measure for vulnerability, I can show about 10 for the
>> wristwatch I am wearing...
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:42 AM, Christian Sciberras <uuf6429@...il.com> wrote:
>>> Ridiculous! I've been talking about this for some time, the actual
>>> list of vulnerable files follows:
>>>
>>> wp-admin\admin-functions.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\admin.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-ftp-pure.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-ftp-sockets.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-wp-filesystem-direct.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-wp-filesystem-ftpsockets.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\comment.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\continents-cities.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\file.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\media.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\misc.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\ms.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\nav-menu.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\plugin-install.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\plugin.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\schema.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\template.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\theme-install.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\update.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\upgrade.php
>>> wp-admin\includes\user.php
>>> wp-admin\maint\repair.php
>>> wp-admin\menu-header.php
>>> wp-admin\menu.php
>>> wp-admin\options-head.php
>>> wp-admin\upgrade-functions.php
>>> wp-config.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\404.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\archive.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\attachment.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\author.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\category.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\comments.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\footer.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\functions.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\header.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\loop.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\onecolumn-page.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\page.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\search.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\sidebar-footer.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\sidebar.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\single.php
>>> wp-content\themes\twentyten\tag.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff\Engine\native.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff\Engine\string.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff\Engine\xdiff.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff\Renderer\inline.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff\Renderer.php
>>> wp-includes\Text\Diff.php
>>> wp-includes\cache.php
>>> wp-includes\canonical.php
>>> wp-includes\class-feed.php
>>> wp-includes\class-simplepie.php
>>> wp-includes\class-snoopy.php
>>> wp-includes\class.wp-scripts.php
>>> wp-includes\class.wp-styles.php
>>> wp-includes\classes.php
>>> wp-includes\comment-template.php
>>> wp-includes\default-embeds.php
>>> wp-includes\default-filters.php
>>> wp-includes\default-widgets.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-atom-comments.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-atom.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-rdf.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-rss.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-rss2-comments.php
>>> wp-includes\feed-rss2.php
>>> wp-includes\general-template.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\langs\wp-langs.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\classes\EnchantSpell.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\classes\GoogleSpell.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\classes\PSpell.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\classes\PSpellShell.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\config.php
>>> wp-includes\js\tinymce\wp-mce-help.php
>>> wp-includes\kses.php
>>> wp-includes\l10n.php
>>> wp-includes\media.php
>>> wp-includes\ms-default-constants.php
>>> wp-includes\ms-default-filters.php
>>> wp-includes\ms-functions.php
>>> wp-includes\ms-settings.php
>>> wp-includes\nav-menu-template.php
>>> wp-includes\post.php
>>> wp-includes\query.php
>>> wp-includes\registration-functions.php
>>> wp-includes\rss-functions.php
>>> wp-includes\rss.php
>>> wp-includes\script-loader.php
>>> wp-includes\shortcodes.php
>>> wp-includes\taxonomy.php
>>> wp-includes\template-loader.php
>>> wp-includes\theme-compat\comments-popup.php
>>> wp-includes\theme-compat\comments.php
>>> wp-includes\theme-compat\footer.php
>>> wp-includes\theme-compat\header.php
>>> wp-includes\theme-compat\sidebar.php
>>> wp-includes\theme.php
>>> wp-includes\update.php
>>> wp-includes\user.php
>>> wp-includes\vars.php
>>> wp-includes\widgets.php
>>> wp-includes\wp-db.php
>>> wp-includes\wp-diff.php
>>> wp-settings.php
>>>
>>> That's some 30%-40% of all Wordpress files (depending on Wordpress install).
>>>
>>> I considered making this public but...
>>>
>>> http://codex.wordpress.org/Security_FAQ
>>>
>>> Read the 5th clause.
>>>
>>>
>>> Chris.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:55 AM, <advisory@...ridge.ch> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Vulnerability ID: HTB22905
>>>> Reference: http://www.htbridge.ch/advisory/path_disclosure_in_wordpress.html
>>>> Product: Wordpress
>>>> Vendor: http://wordpress.org/ ( http://wordpress.org/ )
>>>> Vulnerable Version: 3.1
>>>> Vendor Notification: 15 March 2011
>>>> Vulnerability Type: Path disclosure
>>>> Status: Not Fixed
>>>> Risk level: Low
>>>> Credit: High-Tech Bridge SA - Ethical Hacking & Penetration Testing (http://www.htbridge.ch/)
>>>>
>>>> Vulnerability Details:
>>>> The vulnerability exists due to failure in the "/wp-includes/theme-compat/" & "/wp-content/themes/twentyten/" scripts, it's possible to generate an error that will reveal the full path of the script.
>>>> A remote user can determine the full path to the web root directory and other potentially sensitive information.
>>>>
>>>> The following PoC is available:
>>>>
>>>> [code]
>>>> /wp-includes/theme-compat/comments-popup.php
>>>> /wp-includes/theme-compat/comments.php
>>>> /wp-includes/theme-compat/footer.php
>>>> /wp-includes/theme-compat/sidebar.php
>>>> /wp-content/themes/twentyten/index.php
>>>> /wp-content/themes/twentyten/404.php
>>>> /wp-content/themes/twentyten/archive.php
>>>> [/code]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

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