CVE-2021-29504: Wp cli/wp cli Improper Certificate Validation Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj",
  "modified" : "2021-06-18T20:29:34Z",
  "published" : "2021-05-19T23:03:11Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-29504" ],
  "summary" : "Improper Certificate Validation in WP-CLI framework",
  "details" : "### Impact\nAn improper error handling in HTTPS requests management in WP-CLI version 0.12.0 and later allows remote attackers able to intercept the communication to remotely disable the certificate verification on WP-CLI side, gaining full control over the communication content, including the ability to impersonate update servers and push malicious updates towards WordPress instances controlled by the vulnerable WP-CLI agent, or push malicious updates toward WP-CLI itself.\n\n### Patches\nThe vulnerability stems from the fact that the default behavior of `WP_CLI\\Utils\\http_request()` when encountering a TLS handshake error is to disable certificate validation and retry the same request.\n\nThe default behavior has been changed with version 2.5.0 of WP-CLI and the `wp-cli/wp-cli` framework (via https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523) so that the `WP_CLI\\Utils\\http_request()` method accepts an `$insecure` option that is `false` by default and consequently that a TLS handshake failure is a hard error by default. This new default is a breaking change and ripples through to all consumers of `WP_CLI\\Utils\\http_request()`, including those in separate WP-CLI bundled or third-party packages.\n\nhttps://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523 has also added an `--insecure` flag to the `cli update` command to counter this breaking change.\n\nSubsequent PRs on the command repositories have added an `--insecure` flag to the appropriate commands on the following repositories to counter the breaking change:\n\n* https://github.com/wp-cli/config-command/pull/128\n* https://github.com/wp-cli/core-command/pull/186\n* https://github.com/wp-cli/extension-command/pull/287\n* https://github.com/wp-cli/checksum-command/pull/86\n* https://github.com/wp-cli/package-command/pull/138\n\n### Workarounds\nThere is no direct workaround for the default insecure behavior of `wp-cli/wp-cli` versions before 2.5.0.\n\nThe workaround for dealing with the breaking change in the commands directly affected by the new secure default behavior is to add the `--insecure` flag to manually opt-in to the previous insecure behavior.\n\n### References\n* [CWE: Improper Certificate Validation](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/295.html)\n\n### For more information\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory:\n* Join the `#cli` channel in the [WordPress.org Slack](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/) to ask questions or provide feedback.\n",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "wp-cli/wp-cli"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.12.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.5.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/security/advisories/GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-29504"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/checksum-command/pull/86"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/config-command/pull/128"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/core-command/pull/186"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/extension-command/pull/287"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/package-command/pull/138"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/wp-cli/wp-cli/CVE-2021-29504.yaml"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-295" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-05-19T19:51:53Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-06-07T21:15:00Z"
  }
}