CVE-2022-36798 in Mega Addons for WPBakery Page Builder Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/23/2022
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Topdigitaltrends Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder plugin <= 4.2.7 at WordPress.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/22/2022
The CVE-2022-36798 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the Topdigitaltrends Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder plugin version 4.2.7 and earlier. This vulnerability exists within the WordPress ecosystem and specifically targets the administrative functionality of the plugin, which is widely used for enhancing WordPress page building capabilities. The flaw allows authenticated attackers with contributor-level privileges or higher to manipulate the plugin's administrative functions through maliciously crafted requests. The vulnerability stems from the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms in the plugin's administrative endpoints, making it susceptible to unauthorized actions being performed on behalf of authenticated users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability involves the plugin's failure to validate the origin of requests made to its administrative interfaces. When administrators or users with appropriate permissions access the plugin's settings or perform administrative actions, the system does not properly verify that the requests originate from legitimate sources within the same domain. This absence of anti-CSRF tokens or proper origin validation creates a pathway for attackers to craft malicious requests that can be executed without the user's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability specifically impacts the plugin's ability to distinguish between legitimate administrative operations and maliciously induced requests, allowing attackers to perform unauthorized actions such as modifying plugin configurations, adding new features, or potentially escalating privileges within the WordPress environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple administrative disruption, as it can enable attackers to compromise the entire WordPress site's integrity and functionality. An attacker with contributor-level access can leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary administrative commands, potentially leading to complete site compromise. The vulnerability affects the plugin's core administrative functions, which are essential for managing website content and configurations. Attackers can exploit this weakness to inject malicious code, modify existing functionality, or create backdoors within the WordPress installation. The impact is particularly severe because the Mega Addons plugin is designed to provide extensive customization options, meaning that successful exploitation could result in widespread changes to the website's appearance, functionality, and security posture. This vulnerability also represents a significant risk to user data integrity, as attackers could manipulate content or settings that affect visitor experience and site performance.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the identified security flaw, as the vendor has likely released patches to resolve the issue. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring of their WordPress installations to identify any unauthorized modifications or suspicious activities that may indicate exploitation attempts. The implementation of additional security measures such as web application firewalls and proper access controls can help reduce the attack surface. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all installed plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities that may exist in other third-party components. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1213.002, which involves data from information repositories, as exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to administrative functions and potential data manipulation. Organizations should also consider implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms to further strengthen their defenses against similar CSRF attacks. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify and remediate similar issues in other components of the WordPress ecosystem.