Thousands of WordPress websites could be put at risk by this serious security bug
A recently disclosed vulnerability affecting the WordPress plugin 'Backup Migration' has been given a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10, but things may not be as bad as they seem because a patch is now available.
The security bug, tracked as CVE-2023-6553, affects all versions up to (and including) 1.3.7 of the plugin.
Successful attackers can execute code remotely, allowing them to completely compromise vulnerable WordPress websites via PHP code injection.
Major update for WordPress plugins now available
WordPress security plugin Wordfence Posted about the vulnerability and claims to have blocked 39 attacks within the 24-hour period prior to writing this article.
In the plugins changelog, version 1.3.8 fixes the bug: “Reported CVE patched – please upgrade.” The version also adds tested support for WordPress 6.4.2, which was released on December 6.
It's unclear how many users are running vulnerable versions of the plugin, but the developers claim to have more than 90,000 downloads and a 94% five-star rating across more than 900 reviews.
Researchers from the Nex team are credited with first finding the bug as part of Wordfence's bug bounty program, which is currently running an incentive until December 20 with successful reporters earning 6.25x the usual reward. Nex Team received $2,751 for alerting Wordfence to the vulnerability.
Upon notification, Wordfence has issued a firewall rule to protect customers of Wordfence Premium ($119/year), Wordfence Care ($490/year), and Wordfence Response ($950/year). Wordfence will also extend the firewall rule to non-paying customers after a 30-day period, meaning free customers will be eligible from January 5, 2024.
However, Wordfence also notified the developers of Backup Migration, BackupBliss, of the vulnerability, who subsequently released a patch within hours. The blog post reads: “Kudos to the BackupBliss team for an incredibly fast response and patch.”
Although both a patch and a firewall are now available, WordPress users are still urged to make updates to all plugins as soon as possible to maintain optimal protection of their sites.