CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2017-14990

Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information

Published: Oct 03, 2017 | Modified: Oct 03, 2019
CVSS 3.x
6.5
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS 2.x
4 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
LOW

WordPress 4.8.2 stores cleartext wp_signups.activation_key values (but stores the analogous wp_users.user_activation_key values as hashes), which might make it easier for remote attackers to hijack unactivated user accounts by leveraging database read access (such as access gained through an unspecified SQL injection vulnerability).

Weakness

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Wordpress Wordpress 4.8.2 (including) 4.8.2 (including)
Wordpress Ubuntu esm-apps/xenial *
Wordpress Ubuntu trusty *
Wordpress Ubuntu upstream *
Wordpress Ubuntu xenial *
Wordpress Ubuntu zesty *

Extended Description

Because the information is stored in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted), attackers could potentially read it. Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information. When organizations adopt cloud services, it can be easier for attackers to access the data from anywhere on the Internet. In some systems/environments such as cloud, the use of “double encryption” (at both the software and hardware layer) might be required, and the developer might be solely responsible for both layers, instead of shared responsibility with the administrator of the broader system/environment.

Potential Mitigations

References