WordPress versions 4.4 and below leak whether or not a username exists in their login flow.
1fcd8c4fe8a6f66633988433b2ccfbe5217d776751625c4284b08e7c7dd51fe0
Information security research credited to John Martinelli @
SECURELI.com. (john@secureli.com)
-----
Affects: WordPress <=v4.4
Vulnerability: Information Disclosure
CVE-ID: Pending
Impact: Username exists disclosure on /wp-login.php
-----
By default, WordPress <=4.4 discloses whether a username is registered
inside the system, allowing attackers the opportunity to do brute-force
password cracking attacks.
One proof of concept would be to scrape Alexa.com for WordPress running
domains, check automatically whether it confirms the username (possibly
top 100 most popular WP usernames) exists in the WordPress users table
using a simple RegEx boolean to determine “IF USER EXISTS”, then to send
a Selenium automated browser to attempt logins with top 10 most popular
passwords.
Would easily allow attackers to login and with publishing or editing
permissions, install malware onto the WordPress installation as well as
potentially escalate privileges on the hosting account if running
vulnerable versions of WordPress or plugins.
**** Proof screenshot @
https://secureli.com/information-security-research/wordpress/ ****