CVE-2023-37985 in FiveStarPlugins Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/17/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in FiveStarPlugins Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering plugin <= 2.4.6 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/06/2023
The CVE-2023-37985 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the FiveStarPlugins Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering WordPress plugin, affecting versions up to and including 2.4.6. This vulnerability resides within the plugin's handling of administrative requests and allows authenticated attackers with minimal privileges to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users. The flaw specifically manifests in the plugin's lack of proper CSRF protection mechanisms, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate the application's functionality through carefully crafted requests.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens in critical administrative endpoints within the plugin's codebase. When administrators or users with appropriate privileges interact with the plugin's administrative interface, the system fails to validate the authenticity of requests originating from the legitimate user interface. This design flaw aligns with CWE-352, which categorizes cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities as a result of insufficient anti-CSRF measures. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the trust relationship between the web application and the user's browser, allowing attackers to perform actions such as modifying menu items, adjusting order configurations, or manipulating restaurant data without proper authorization.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to restaurant management systems that rely on the FiveStarPlugins plugin for their online ordering functionality. Attackers could leverage this flaw to modify pricing structures, alter menu availability, disrupt ordering processes, or potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive customer data. The impact extends beyond simple data manipulation as it could compromise the integrity of the entire food ordering ecosystem, affecting business operations and customer trust. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal privileges, making it particularly dangerous as it could be exploited by users with limited access rights who might have gained initial foothold through other means.
The threat landscape for this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which covers phishing with malicious attachments, as attackers might use social engineering to gain initial access before leveraging CSRF to escalate privileges within the plugin's administrative interface. Organizations using affected versions should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the patched version of the plugin, implementing proper CSRF token validation, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of their WordPress installations. Additionally, network monitoring should be enhanced to detect suspicious administrative activities, and access controls should be reviewed to minimize the potential impact of such vulnerabilities. The remediation process must include thorough testing of the updated plugin to ensure no regression issues affect existing functionality while maintaining the security improvements necessary to prevent exploitation.