CVE-2016-4904 in WP-OliveCart
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WP-OliveCart versions prior to 3.1.3 and WP-OliveCartPro versions prior to 3.1.8 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of a user to perform unintended operations via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/25/2020
The CVE-2016-4904 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting WP-OliveCart and WP-OliveCartPro content management systems. This vulnerability exists within the authentication and authorization mechanisms of these e-commerce platforms, specifically in versions prior to 3.1.3 for WP-OliveCart and 3.1.8 for WP-OliveCartPro. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit user sessions without requiring authentication credentials, creating a significant security risk for online stores that rely on these plugins for their operations. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of requests originating from authenticated users, enabling malicious actors to craft requests that appear legitimate to the target system.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability involves the absence of proper anti-forgery tokens or other validation mechanisms within the web application's request processing pipeline. When users authenticate to the WP-OliveCart system, their session remains active and is typically maintained through cookies or other session management techniques. However, the vulnerability allows attackers to leverage these established sessions to execute unauthorized operations such as modifying product listings, changing user permissions, altering payment configurations, or performing administrative actions. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description suggest that the attack could occur through various means including malicious links, embedded images, or crafted web pages that automatically submit requests to the vulnerable system. This weakness aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities, and demonstrates the classic pattern where applications fail to validate that requests originate from legitimate sources.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification, as it fundamentally undermines the security model of the affected e-commerce platforms. Attackers could potentially gain full administrative control over online stores, leading to complete compromise of customer data, financial information, and business operations. The vulnerability affects the integrity and availability of the systems, as unauthorized modifications could disrupt normal business operations or cause permanent data loss. Additionally, the impact on user trust and brand reputation could be severe, especially if customers discover that their personal or payment information has been compromised. Organizations using these vulnerable versions face potential regulatory compliance issues, particularly under frameworks such as pci dss, which mandate secure handling of customer data. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to establish persistent access through administrative modifications or to use the compromised systems as launch points for further attacks against the broader network infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-4904 should focus on immediate patching of affected systems, with administrators upgrading to WP-OliveCart versions 3.1.3 and WP-OliveCartPro versions 3.1.8 or later. Organizations should implement additional security measures including the deployment of web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, the implementation of proper anti-forgery token validation, and enhanced monitoring of administrative activities. The solution approach should align with ATT&CK framework techniques related to privilege escalation and persistence, as attackers may attempt to establish long-term access through administrative modifications. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other plugins or components of the web application stack. System administrators should also consider implementing additional authentication layers such as two-factor authentication for administrative accounts and regular security audits of all installed plugins to ensure ongoing protection against similar vulnerabilities.