The WP Ultimate Review WordPress plugin before 2.4.4 does not validate that a submitted review rating is numeric before storing it and later using it in numeric operations when rendering reviews, allowing unauthenticated users to make the reviewed content fail with a fatal error for all visitors until the review is removed (a persistent denial of service), when user reviews are enabled.
Weakness
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
Potential Mitigations
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.
Related Attack Patterns
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/147.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/227.html
- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/492.html