Check Point Advisories

WordPress Pingback Distributed Denial of Service

Vulnerability
Protection

Check Point Reference:	CPAI-2014-1165
Date Published:	20 Mar 2014
Severity:	High
Last Updated:	Monday 24 March, 2014
Source:
Protection Provided by:	Security Gateway R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?	Web Servers
Vulnerability Description	The XMLRPC Pingback function in WordPress can be used to force WordPress servers into sending HTTP requests to other servers. Remote attackers can leverage this function to conduct DDoS attacks by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to legitimate WordPress servers.

Protection Overview

This protection will detect and block multiple requests sent from WordPress servers over a short period of time.

In order for the protection to be activated, update your Security Gateway product to the latest IPS update. For information on how to update IPS, go to SBP-2006-05, click on Protection tab and select the version of your choice.

Security Gateway R80 / R77 / R75

In the IPS tab, click Protections and find the WordPress Pingback Distributed Denial of Service protection using the Search tool and Edit the protection's settings.
Install policy on all Security Gateways.

This protection's log will contain the following information:

Attack Name: WordPress Enforcement Protection.
Attack Information: WordPress Pingback Distributed Denial of Service