CVE-2023-6272
📋 TL;DR
The Theme My Login 2FA WordPress plugin before version 1.2 lacks rate limiting on two-factor authentication validation attempts, allowing attackers to brute-force the 6-digit 2FA codes. This affects all WordPress sites using vulnerable versions of this plugin for user authentication.
💻 Affected Systems
- Theme My Login 2FA WordPress plugin
📦 What is this software?
2fa by Thememylogin
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers gain administrative access to WordPress sites by brute-forcing 2FA codes, leading to complete site compromise, data theft, malware injection, and defacement.
Likely Case
Attackers gain unauthorized access to user accounts, potentially escalating privileges to compromise the WordPress installation.
If Mitigated
With proper rate limiting or WAF protection, brute-force attempts are blocked, preventing successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only basic scripting to automate brute-force attempts against the 2FA endpoint.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.2
Vendor Advisory: https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/a03243ea-fee7-46e4-8037-a228afc5297a
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Theme My Login 2FA' and update to version 1.2 or later. 4. Verify update completes successfully.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) Rate Limiting
allConfigure WAF rules to limit requests to the 2FA validation endpoint (typically /wp-json/tml-2fa/v1/validate).
WAF-specific configuration required; consult your WAF documentation for rate limiting setup.
Disable Plugin Temporarily
linuxDeactivate the Theme My Login 2FA plugin until patched, using alternative 2FA methods if needed.
wp plugin deactivate theme-my-login-2fa
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level rate limiting using a firewall or WAF to block excessive requests to the 2FA endpoint.
- Monitor authentication logs for brute-force patterns and block suspicious IP addresses manually.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for 'Theme My Login 2FA' version; if version is below 1.2, it's vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin list --name='theme-my-login-2fa' --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm plugin version is 1.2 or higher in WordPress admin panel, and test that 2FA validation now has rate limiting (e.g., rapid requests should be blocked).📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed 2FA validation attempts from single IP addresses in WordPress or web server logs.
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-json/tml-2fa/v1/validate endpoint with high frequency.
Network Indicators:
- Spike in traffic to the 2FA validation endpoint, especially with sequential 6-digit codes in requests.
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND uri="/wp-json/tml-2fa/v1/validate" AND status=401 | stats count by src_ip | where count > 10