The Page and Post Restriction plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in versions up to and including 1.4.0 via the WordPress core REST endpoints /wp-json/wp/v2/pages, /wp-json/wp/v2/pages/, /wp-json/wp/v2/posts, and /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/. This is due to the plugins REST guards — papr_restrict_page_post_rest_api() and the the_posts filter registered by papr_filter_posts() — sourcing their restricted-ID list exclusively from papr_get_restricted_posts_id(), which only reads the per-page metabox options papr_allowed_redirect_for_pages and papr_allowed_redirect_for_posts and never consults the two global toggles papr_access_for_only_loggedin and papr_access_for_only_loggedin_posts that the plugins own UI describes as Make all Pages Private / Make all Posts Private. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to read the full rendered content of every published page and post on sites configured with the documented global toggles, bypassing the security boundary enforced on the frontend by papr_restrict_logged_in_users().
Weakness
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Potential Mitigations
- Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) [REF-229] to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
- Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
- Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
- For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework [REF-233] and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature [REF-45].
- For web applications, make sure that the access control mechanism is enforced correctly at the server side on every page. Users should not be able to access any unauthorized functionality or information by simply requesting direct access to that page.
- One way to do this is to ensure that all pages containing sensitive information are not cached, and that all such pages restrict access to requests that are accompanied by an active and authenticated session token associated with a user who has the required permissions to access that page.
Related Attack Patterns
References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.0/page-and-post-restriction.php#L484
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.0/page-and-post-restriction.php#L69
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.0/page-and-post-restriction.php#L94
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.0/page-restriction-utility.php#L701
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.1/page-and-post-restriction.php#L484
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.1/page-and-post-restriction.php#L69
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.1/page-and-post-restriction.php#L94
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/page-and-post-restriction/tags/1.4.1/page-restriction-utility.php#L701
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?new=3578420%40page-and-post-restriction%2Ftags%2F1.4.2\u0026old=3560846%40page-and-post-restriction%2Ftags%2F1.4.1
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f01302aa-00ef-440a-9c37-4fde6bb4bb4d?source=cve