CVE-2022-0445 in GDPR & ePrivacy Cookie Consent Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 03/07/2022
The WordPress Real Cookie Banner: GDPR (DSGVO) & ePrivacy Cookie Consent WordPress plugin before 2.14.2 does not have CSRF checks in place when resetting its settings, allowing attackers to make a logged in admin reset them via a CSRF attack
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/09/2022
The WordPress Real Cookie Banner plugin presents a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that undermines the security posture of WordPress installations. This vulnerability affects versions prior to 2.14.2 and specifically targets the plugin's administrative settings reset functionality. The flaw resides in the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms within the plugin's codebase, creating an exploitable vector that allows authenticated attackers to manipulate administrative settings without proper authorization. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it leverages the existing administrative session of a logged-in WordPress administrator, making it difficult to detect and prevent through standard network monitoring.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to implement anti-CSRF tokens in its settings reset endpoint. When administrators access the plugin's settings page to reset configurations, the system does not validate the authenticity of the request origin or verify that the request was genuinely initiated by the administrator. This design flaw aligns with CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a security vulnerability that occurs when a web application fails to validate the source of requests. The absence of CSRF protection tokens means that an attacker can craft a malicious webpage or email attachment that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically triggers the settings reset functionality. This attack vector is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication credentials beyond the existing administrative session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple configuration reset, as it can potentially compromise the compliance and security measures that the plugin is designed to enforce. WordPress administrators rely on the Real Cookie Banner plugin to maintain GDPR and ePrivacy compliance by managing cookie consent mechanisms and privacy settings. When an attacker successfully executes a CSRF attack, they can reset these critical privacy configurations, potentially removing consent banners, altering cookie categories, or disabling privacy controls. This could result in significant compliance violations and expose the website to legal consequences under data protection regulations. The vulnerability also represents a potential entry point for more sophisticated attacks, as compromised administrative settings could be used to facilitate further exploitation or data exfiltration.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by updating to version 2.14.2 or later, which implements proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The mitigation strategy should also include regular security audits of WordPress plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities, implementation of web application firewalls that can detect and block CSRF attacks, and enhanced monitoring of administrative activities. Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and T1566 which covers credential harvesting. The attack surface analysis reveals that this vulnerability is particularly dangerous in environments where administrators frequently visit external websites or receive suspicious email attachments, as these scenarios provide ideal conditions for successful CSRF exploitation. Additionally, implementing proper input validation, session management, and security headers such as Content Security Policy can provide additional layers of defense against similar vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem.