CVE-2021-38312

The Gutenberg Template Library & Redux Framework plugin <= 4.2.11 for WordPress used an incorrect authorization check in the REST API endpoints registered under the “redux/v1/templates/” REST Route in “redux-templates/classes/class-api.php”. The permissions_callback used in this file only checked for the edit_posts capability which is granted to lower-privileged users such as contributors, allowing such users to install arbitrary plugins from the WordPress repository and edit arbitrary posts.

Weakness

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This may cause it to follow unexpected code paths that may leave the product in an invalid state.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Compartmentalize the system to have “safe” areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
• Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.

References

• https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/09/over-1-million-sites-affected-by-redux-framework-vulnerabilities/
• https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/09/over-1-million-sites-affected-by-redux-framework-vulnerabilities/