DefenseCode ThunderScan SAST Advisory: WordPress Smooth Slider Plugin
             SQL injection Security Vulnerability


Advisory ID:    DC-2018-01-004
Advisory Title: WordPress Smooth Slider Plugin SQL injection
 Security Vulnerability
Advisory URL:   https://www.defensecode.com/advisories.php
Software:       WordPress Smooth Slider plugin
Language:       PHP
Version:        2.8.6 and below
Vendor Status:  Vendor contacted, update released
Release Date:   2018/01/10
Risk:           Medium



1. General Overview
===================
During the security audit of Smooth Slider plugin for WordPress CMS,
security vulnerability was discovered using DefenseCode ThunderScan
application source code security analysis platform.

More information about ThunderScan is available at URL:
https://www.defensecode.com


2. Software Overview
====================
According to the plugin developers, Smooth Slider is a free WordPress
slider plugin to create image slider, post slider, content slider,
video slideshow with responsive design.

According to wordpress.org, it has more than 20 000 active installs.

Homepage:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/smooth-slider/
https://slidervilla.com/smooth-slider/


3. Vulnerability Description
============================
During the security analysis, ThunderScan discovered SQL injection
vulnerability in Smooth Slider WordPress plugin.

The easiest way to reproduce the vulnerability is to visit the
provided URL while being logged in as administrator or another user
that is authorized to access the plugin settings page. Users that do
not have full administrative privileges could abuse the database
access the vulnerability provides to either escalate their privileges
or obtain and modify database contents they were not supposed to be
able to.

Due to the missing nonce token, the vulnerable code is also directly
exposed to attack vectors such as Cross Site request forgery (CSRF).

3.1. SQL injection
  Function: $wpdb->get_var()
  Variable: $_GET['trid']
  Vulnerable URL:
https://vulnerablesite.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1&action=edit&source_lang=1&trid=22
OR SLEEP(5)
  File: smooth-slider\smooth-slider.php
        ---------
        470     $id = $wpdb->get_var( "SELECT element_id FROM
{$wpdb->prefix}icl_translations WHERE trid=".$_GET['trid']." AND
language_code='".$_GET['source_lang']."'" );
        ---------


4. Solution
===========
After the vulnerability was reported the vendor resolved the security
issues. All users are strongly advised to update WordPress Smooth
Slider plugin to the latest available version.


5. Credits
==========
Discovered by Neven Biruski using DefenseCode ThunderScan source code
security analyzer.

 
6. Disclosure Timeline
======================
2016/11/11   Vulnerability discovered
2017/03/31   Vendor contacted
2017/04/28   Vendor contacted
2017/05/08   Vendor responded
2018/01/10   Advisory released to the public


7. About DefenseCode
====================
DefenseCode L.L.C. delivers products and services designed to analyze
and test web, desktop and mobile applications for security
vulnerabilities.

DefenseCode ThunderScan is a SAST (Static Application Security
Testing, WhiteBox Testing) solution for performing extensive security
audits of application source code. ThunderScan SAST performs fast and
accurate analyses of large and complex source code projects delivering
precise results and low false positive rate.

DefenseCode WebScanner is a DAST (Dynamic Application Security
Testing, BlackBox Testing) solution for comprehensive security audits
of active web applications. WebScanner will test a website's security
by carrying out a large number of attacks using the most advanced
techniques, just as a real attacker would.

Subscribe for free software trial on our website
https://www.defensecode.com/ .

E-mail: defensecode[at]defensecode.com

Website: https://www.defensecode.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DefenseCode/