CVE-2016-4828 in Collne Welcart e-Commerce Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The Collne Welcart e-Commerce plugin before 1.8.3 for WordPress mishandles sessions, which allows remote attackers to obtain access by leveraging knowledge of the e-mail address associated with an account.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2016-4828 affects the Collne Welcart e-Commerce plugin version 1.8.2 and earlier, representing a critical session management flaw within the WordPress ecosystem. This issue stems from improper session handling mechanisms that create predictable or guessable session identifiers, allowing unauthorized access to user accounts. The vulnerability specifically exploits the relationship between email addresses and session tokens, enabling attackers to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts simply by knowing the email address associated with an existing user account. The flaw represents a significant weakness in the authentication and authorization framework of the e-commerce platform, potentially compromising sensitive customer data and transaction information.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability lies in the plugin's session management system which fails to properly generate secure session identifiers. According to CWE-305 authentication bypass weaknesses, the flaw allows attackers to leverage knowledge of valid email addresses to predict or reconstruct session tokens. The vulnerability operates under the principle of session fixation or session prediction attacks where the system does not adequately randomize or secure session identifiers. Attackers can exploit this by using the email address as a predictable factor in session token generation, effectively bypassing standard authentication mechanisms that should require proper credentials or multi-factor authentication. The issue demonstrates poor cryptographic practices in session token generation, potentially using predictable patterns or insufficient entropy in the session identifier creation process.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-4828 extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass complete account compromise and potential data breaches. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to access customer accounts, view personal information, modify account details, and potentially conduct fraudulent transactions within the e-commerce platform. The vulnerability directly impacts the confidentiality and integrity of customer data, violating fundamental security principles of data protection. From an attacker's perspective, this represents a low-effort, high-impact method for gaining access to user accounts, as email addresses are often publicly available or easily obtained through social engineering or other means. The vulnerability also creates a persistent threat as compromised sessions can remain active until manually terminated, allowing extended unauthorized access periods.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-4828 require immediate action to upgrade the Collne Welcart plugin to version 1.8.3 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for proper session management. Organizations should implement comprehensive security monitoring to detect unauthorized access attempts and session hijacking activities. The fix typically involves implementing properly randomized session identifiers with sufficient entropy, ensuring that session tokens cannot be predicted or reconstructed from user information such as email addresses. Security measures should include regular security audits of WordPress plugins, maintaining up-to-date software versions, and implementing additional authentication layers such as two-factor authentication. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation, requiring organizations to strengthen their authentication mechanisms and implement proper session management practices. Organizations should also consider implementing session timeout mechanisms and monitoring for unusual login patterns to detect potential exploitation of this vulnerability.