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MEDIUM

WordPress through 4.7.4 relies on the Host HTTP header for a password-reset e-mail message, which makes it easier for remote attackers to reset arbitrary passwords by making a crafted wp-login.php?action=lostpassword request and then arranging for this message to bounce or be resent, leading to transmission of the reset key to a mailbox on an attacker-controlled SMTP server

Published May 4, 2017

Description

WordPress through 4.7.4 relies on the Host HTTP header for a password-reset e-mail message, which makes it easier for remote attackers to reset arbitrary passwords by making a crafted wp-login.php?action=lostpassword request and then arranging for this message to bounce or be resent, leading to transmission of the reset key to a mailbox on an attacker-controlled SMTP server. This is related to problematic use of the SERVER_NAME variable in wp-includes/pluggable.php in conjunction with the PHP mail function. Exploitation is not achievable in all cases because it requires at least one of the following: (1) the attacker can prevent the victim from receiving any e-mail messages for an extended period of time (such as 5 days), (2) the victim's e-mail system sends an autoresponse containing the original message, or (3) the victim manually composes a reply containing the original message.

Affected products

Remediation

No remediation recorded yet.

Metrics

Weaknesses (1)

References (6)

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner mitre
Published May 4, 2017
Updated Aug 5, 2024
Reserved Apr 27, 2017
NVD
Status Modified
Modified Jun 17, 2026
Red Hat
Severity n/a
Public date n/a