CVE-2023-40673 in Cartpauj Register Captcha Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/04/2024
: Improper Control of Interaction Frequency vulnerability in cartpauj Cartpauj Register Captcha allows Functionality Misuse.This issue affects Cartpauj Register Captcha: from n/a through 1.0.02.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/04/2024
The CVE-2023-40673 vulnerability represents a critical improper control of interaction frequency flaw within the cartpauj Cartpauj Register Captcha plugin, specifically impacting versions ranging from n/a through 1.0.02. This vulnerability falls under the broader category of weak access control mechanisms and aligns with CWE-614, which addresses sensitive data exposure through improper control of interaction frequency. The flaw manifests in how the captcha system manages user interaction rates and validation attempts, creating opportunities for malicious actors to exploit the plugin's functionality through misuse of its intended operational parameters.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate rate limiting and frequency control mechanisms within the captcha validation process. When users attempt to register or interact with the captcha system, the plugin fails to properly monitor and restrict the frequency of these interactions, allowing for potential abuse through automated scripts or brute force approaches. This misconfiguration enables attackers to overwhelm the system's validation capabilities, potentially leading to service disruption or bypass of the intended security controls. The vulnerability specifically targets the interaction frequency controls that should normally prevent excessive validation requests from a single source or user session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service availability concerns, as it creates potential pathways for account enumeration, credential stuffing, and other automated attack vectors that can compromise the overall security posture of systems utilizing the affected plugin. Attackers can exploit the improper interaction frequency controls to perform rapid successive validation attempts, potentially exhausting system resources or circumventing intended security measures. This weakness directly impacts the plugin's ability to maintain proper authentication controls and can lead to unauthorized access attempts or denial of service conditions that affect legitimate user operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-40673 should focus on implementing robust rate limiting mechanisms, establishing proper frequency controls for captcha validation requests, and ensuring that interaction patterns are properly monitored and restricted. Organizations should upgrade to patched versions of the cartpauj Cartpauj Register Captcha plugin immediately, while implementing additional defensive measures such as IP-based rate limiting, session tracking, and request throttling. The vulnerability's classification as a functionality misuse issue indicates that proper input validation and interaction monitoring should be implemented to prevent abuse of the captcha system's intended functionality. Security teams should also consider implementing behavioral analytics to detect anomalous interaction patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1110 for credential access and T1499 for network denial of service.