CVE-2012-0937

Description

wp-admin/setup-config.php in the installation component in WordPress 3.3.1 and earlier does not limit the number of MySQL queries sent to external MySQL database servers, which allows remote attackers to use WordPress as a proxy for brute-force attacks or denial of service attacks via the dbhost parameter, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-4898. NOTE: the vendor disputes the significance of this issue because an incomplete WordPress installation might be present on the network for only a short time

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Debian

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Debian 14	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Debian 13	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Debian 12	wordpress	No fix yet	—

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Exploit-DB 1

WordPress Core 3.3.1 - Multiple Vulnerabilities EDB-18417 · webapps · Jan 25, 2012 · verified

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

References

18417 exploit
https://www.trustwave.com/spiderlabs/advisories/TWSL2012-002.txt
20120124 TWSL2012-002: Multiple Vulnerabilities in WordPress mailing-list