CVE-2023-25450 in GiveWP Donation and Fundraising Platform Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/15/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in GiveWP GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform plugin <= 2.25.1 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2023
The CVE-2023-25450 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting the GiveWP donation plugin and fundraising platform, specifically impacting versions up to and including 2.25.1. This vulnerability resides within the WordPress ecosystem and exploits the fundamental trust relationship between web browsers and servers, allowing malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The flaw manifests when the plugin fails to properly validate and verify the origin of requests, creating an avenue for attackers to manipulate user sessions and perform unintended operations without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from insufficient anti-forgery token validation mechanisms within the plugin's form handling and API endpoints. When users access the GiveWP platform, the system should enforce strict verification of request sources to prevent unauthorized modifications to donation records, user accounts, or fundraising campaigns. However, the vulnerable versions lack proper CSRF protection measures such as unique tokens that correlate with user sessions, making it possible for attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the server. This weakness aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it enables attackers to compromise entire donation campaigns and potentially access sensitive donor information. An attacker could leverage this flaw to create unauthorized donations, modify existing donation records, alter campaign settings, or even redirect funds to malicious accounts. The severity increases when considering that GiveWP serves as a fundraising platform where users trust the system to securely handle financial transactions and personal data. The vulnerability could result in financial loss for both donors and organizations, reputational damage, and potential regulatory compliance issues under data protection frameworks such as gdpr and pci dss.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-25450 should prioritize immediate patching to version 2.25.2 or later, which contains the necessary CSRF token implementation and validation mechanisms. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures including robust input validation, session management improvements, and monitoring for suspicious activities in donation processing. Security teams should consider implementing web application firewalls with CSRF protection capabilities and conduct thorough penetration testing to identify potential exploitation vectors. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and following the principle of least privilege in web application development, where all user interactions must be rigorously validated and authenticated. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to technique T1531 for credential access through manipulation of authentication tokens, highlighting the need for comprehensive security controls that address both application-level and infrastructure-level protections.