CVE-2012-5178 in Welcart plugin
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Welcart plugin before 1.2.2 for WordPress allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that complete a purchase.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/08/2018
The CVE-2012-5178 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the Welcart plugin for WordPress systems. This vulnerability existed in versions prior to 1.2.2 and exposed WordPress sites to significant security risks through the manipulation of user authentication sessions. The flaw specifically targeted the plugin's handling of purchase transactions, allowing malicious actors to exploit the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The vulnerability operates by tricking authenticated users into performing unintended actions without their knowledge or consent, effectively hijacking their authenticated sessions to execute unauthorized transactions.
This CSRF vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. The technical implementation of this flaw demonstrates a failure in the plugin's request validation mechanisms, where the system did not properly verify the authenticity of requests originating from legitimate users. The vulnerability exploited the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protective measures within the plugin's purchase processing workflow. Attackers could craft malicious web pages or emails containing hidden form submissions that would automatically execute purchase requests on behalf of authenticated users when they visited compromised sites or clicked malicious links. The flaw was particularly dangerous because it leveraged the existing user authentication state, making it appear as though the legitimate user was performing the transaction.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-5178 was substantial for WordPress administrators and users running affected versions of the Welcart plugin. Unauthorized purchases could result in financial losses for customers while potentially exposing sensitive transaction data to malicious actors. The vulnerability created a persistent risk for e-commerce sites that relied on the plugin for their online sales functionality, as attackers could repeatedly exploit the flaw to conduct multiple unauthorized transactions. Security professionals noted that this vulnerability was particularly concerning because it required no special privileges or advanced technical skills to exploit, making it accessible to a wide range of threat actors. The impact extended beyond immediate financial harm to include potential reputational damage for businesses and the compromise of user trust in online purchasing systems.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-5178 centered primarily on upgrading to the patched version 1.2.2 of the Welcart plugin, which implemented proper CSRF protection mechanisms. Security teams recommended immediate deployment of the update alongside comprehensive monitoring of user transaction logs to detect any suspicious activities that might have occurred during the vulnerability window. Organizations should have also implemented additional defensive measures including web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, enhanced user session management protocols, and regular security audits of installed plugins. The vulnerability highlighted the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing proper input validation for all user interactions within web applications. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation through session hijacking, emphasizing the need for robust session management and request verification protocols in web applications.