CVE-2023-49751 in Block for Font Awesome Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/17/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Ciprian Popescu Block for Font Awesome.This issue affects Block for Font Awesome: from n/a through 1.4.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/12/2024
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-49751 resides within the Block for Font Awesome WordPress plugin, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of web applications. This vulnerability stems from inadequate validation of user requests, allowing malicious actors to exploit the plugin's functionality without proper authorization. The affected version range spans from an unspecified starting point through version 1.4.0, indicating that users operating within this scope remain at risk of exploitation. The vulnerability specifically targets the plugin's handling of cross-site requests, where legitimate user actions can be manipulated by attackers to execute unauthorized operations.
The technical implementation of this CSRF flaw manifests through the absence of proper anti-forgery tokens or validation mechanisms within the plugin's administrative interfaces. When users navigate to the plugin's settings or perform administrative actions, the system fails to verify the authenticity of the request origin, creating an avenue for attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the web application. This weakness allows unauthorized modifications to be executed on behalf of authenticated users who have administrative privileges within the WordPress environment. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and directly impacts the plugin's ability to distinguish between genuine user interactions and crafted malicious requests.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can enable attackers to compromise entire WordPress installations through the compromised plugin. An attacker could leverage this flaw to modify plugin configurations, inject malicious code, or potentially escalate privileges within the WordPress environment. The severity of the impact increases when considering that many WordPress installations rely heavily on third-party plugins for core functionality, making the compromise of a single vulnerable plugin potentially devastating to overall system security. The vulnerability's presence in the administrative interface means that successful exploitation could lead to complete system takeover or data breaches.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-49751 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the CSRF vulnerability, as developers typically release patches to resolve such issues. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring of their WordPress installations to detect unauthorized modifications or suspicious activities that may indicate exploitation attempts. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can provide additional defense-in-depth measures by filtering malicious requests before they reach the vulnerable plugin. Security practitioners should also consider implementing proper input validation and output encoding practices, following established frameworks such as the CWE guidelines for CSRF protection. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 which covers privilege escalation through abuse of credentials, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege in web application security design.