CVE-2023-41670 in Palasthotel Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/25/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Palasthotel (in person: Edward Bock) Use Memcached plugin <= 1.0.4 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/28/2023
The CVE-2023-41670 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Palasthotel WordPress plugin ecosystem, specifically affecting versions of the Memcached plugin up to and including 1.0.4. This vulnerability arises from the insufficient validation of user requests within the plugin's authentication and authorization mechanisms, creating a pathway for malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it directly impacts the security posture of WordPress installations that rely on this plugin for caching functionality.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens in the plugin's administrative interfaces and API endpoints. When users access the plugin's configuration pages or perform administrative actions, the system fails to validate that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session. This design flaw allows attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed by authenticated users, can manipulate the plugin's caching behavior or potentially escalate privileges. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for Valid Accounts and T1566.001 for Phishing, as exploitation typically requires user interaction through maliciously crafted web pages.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, potentially allowing attackers to disrupt caching operations, access sensitive configuration data, or in some cases, achieve privilege escalation within the WordPress environment. Given that Memcached is commonly used for performance optimization, an attacker could potentially cause denial of service conditions by manipulating cache invalidation or by flooding the caching system with malicious data. The vulnerability affects not only the immediate plugin functionality but also the broader WordPress security model, as compromised administrative sessions could lead to complete system takeover. Organizations using affected versions of the Palasthotel plugin are at risk of unauthorized modifications to their caching strategies, which could result in performance degradation, data exposure, or complete service disruption.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate action including upgrading to the latest version of the Memcached plugin where the CSRF protection mechanisms have been implemented. System administrators should also implement additional security controls such as network-level access restrictions to administrative interfaces, regular security audits of installed plugins, and monitoring for unusual administrative activities. The implementation of proper CSRF token validation, as outlined in OWASP CSRF Prevention Cheat Sheet recommendations, should be enforced across all plugin interfaces. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious request patterns and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing plugin vulnerabilities. Regular vulnerability scanning and security assessments are essential to identify other potentially affected components within the WordPress ecosystem and maintain comprehensive protection against similar threats.