Re: DoS via tables corruption in WordPress

[Timothy Goddard <tim () goddard net nz>]

I agree that the DoS part is vague and not a vulnerability in WordPress. However, my question would be:

* Will an error running a database statement lead to WordPress showing the install process to visitors?
* What additional privileges do they then have?
* Could this cause a non-exploitable db bug to become exploitable?

If the answers there lean towards yes, lots and yes, then some mitigation is called for.


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-------- Original message --------
From: Andrew Nacin <nacin () wordpress org> 
Date:  
To: MustLive <mustlive () websecurity com ua> 
Cc: full-disclosure () lists grok org uk 
Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] DoS via tables corruption in WordPress 
 
On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 8:02 AM, MustLive <mustlive () websecurity com ua> wrote:
There is DoS vulnerability in WordPress, <snip>

As pointed out by others, this is unbearably vague.

But it's also invalid.

Your "attack" requires that a maintenance script to repair tables is left open for anyone to access. The constant that 
you point out must be set, WP_ALLOW_REPAIR, is only there so a user can access this script, run the script, then remove 
the constant (as the script instructs).

Your suggestion appears to be to validate the logged-in user. But because this script is to fix a *corrupt database,* 
we would have no way of authenticating users. Thus, the script is instead secured by a temporary configuration change.

Aris mentions he experienced corruption in his own WordPress setup. It's most likely the options table simply crashed, 
not as a result of any particular exploit. This is, after all, why MySQL has a REPAIR command (and why we have a script 
for users to use).

I have read to quite a few of your "attacks" against WordPress core, but I don't recall ever reading a valid one.

Perhaps for WordPress issues you should switch from "full disclosure" to a more responsible course of action, such as 
contacting us first (security () wordpress org) so we can evaluate it. I understand the general appeal of full 
disclosure, but when all you're doing is publishing invalid vulnerabilities, it's only spreading FUD and also making it 
tough for others to take any of your "attacks" seriously. This mailing list would probably appreciate the higher 
signal-to-noise ratio.

Regards,

Andrew Nacin
Lead Developer
WordPress

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