CVE-2017-18547 in nelio-ab-testing Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The nelio-ab-testing plugin before 4.6.4 for WordPress has CSRF in experiment forms.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/26/2023
The nelio-ab-testing plugin for WordPress contains a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that affects versions prior to 4.6.4, representing a significant security risk for WordPress installations. This vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to implement proper anti-forgery token validation mechanisms within its experiment form submission processes. The flaw allows authenticated attackers with sufficient privileges to manipulate A/B testing configurations through maliciously crafted requests that exploit the lack of CSRF protection. The vulnerability specifically impacts the plugin's administrative interface where experiment forms are processed, making it particularly dangerous for WordPress sites that rely heavily on A/B testing for marketing optimization and user experience improvements.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability manifests through the absence of cryptographic tokens or nonce validation in the form processing workflow. When administrators create or modify A/B experiments through the plugin's interface, the system should validate that requests originate from legitimate administrative sessions. However, the plugin fails to enforce this validation, allowing attackers to craft HTTP requests that appear to come from authenticated users. This weakness enables unauthorized modifications to experiment parameters, potentially altering conversion tracking, modifying user segmentation criteria, or even disabling critical testing functionality. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited through various attack vectors including phishing campaigns, compromised administrator credentials, or direct exploitation of the web application's form submission endpoints.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, potentially compromising the integrity of A/B testing results and affecting business-critical decisions based on test outcomes. Attackers could manipulate experiment configurations to skew results, leading to incorrect conclusions about user behavior and product performance. This could result in significant financial losses through misguided product development decisions, altered marketing strategies, or compromised user experience optimization efforts. The vulnerability also poses risks to data integrity and audit trails, as unauthorized changes to experiment configurations may not be properly logged or traceable. Additionally, the compromised plugin functionality could affect the overall security posture of WordPress installations, potentially providing attackers with additional attack surface or serving as a foothold for further exploitation of the web application environment.
Organizations should immediately update to nelio-ab-testing plugin version 4.6.4 or later, which implements proper CSRF protection mechanisms including nonce validation and request origin verification. Security teams should also review existing experiment configurations and monitor for any unauthorized modifications that may have occurred during the vulnerability window. The implementation of additional security controls such as web application firewalls, enhanced monitoring of administrative interfaces, and regular security auditing of WordPress plugins can provide additional layers of protection. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery flaws in web applications, and represents a common weakness that appears frequently in plugin implementations lacking proper input validation and session management. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1078 for valid accounts usage and T1548 for abuse of privileges, as it enables attackers to leverage legitimate administrative access to perform unauthorized actions within the WordPress environment.