WordPress Ashtanga theme <= 1.2 - PHP Object Injection vulnerability

Vulnerability

The Ashtanga WordPress theme versions 1.2 and earlier are vulnerable to unauthenticated PHP Object Injection. The vulnerability allows an attacker to inject arbitrary PHP objects via crafted serialized input without requiring authentication. This issue affects all versions up to and including 1.2. [1]

Exploitation

An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted request containing a malicious serialized PHP object. No authentication or user interaction is required. The attack can be performed remotely over HTTP. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation can lead to arbitrary code execution, SQL injection, path traversal, or denial of service if a suitable POP (Property Oriented Programming) chain is present in the application or its dependencies. The vulnerability is considered highly dangerous and is expected to be used in mass-exploit campaigns. [1]

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in version 1.3 of the Ashtanga theme. Users are strongly advised to update to version 1.3 or later immediately. If unable to update, a mitigation rule is available from Patchstack to block attacks until the update is applied. [1]