CVE-2023-49843 in First Order Discount Woocommerce Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/18/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in QuanticEdge First Order Discount Woocommerce.This issue affects First Order Discount Woocommerce: from n/a through 1.21.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/12/2024
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-49843 represents a critical security flaw within the QuanticEdge First Order Discount WooCommerce plugin, specifically impacting versions ranging from the initial release through 1.21. This vulnerability falls under the broader category of web application security weaknesses that exploit the trust relationship between a web application and its users. The issue stems from the plugin's inadequate implementation of anti-CSRF measures, which allows malicious actors to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. The vulnerability specifically affects the plugin's handling of requests related to discount configurations and user account modifications, creating a pathway for attackers to manipulate the application's behavior through crafted malicious requests.
The technical implementation of this CSRF flaw lies in the absence of proper request validation mechanisms within the plugin's processing endpoints. When users access certain administrative functions or perform actions such as modifying discount rules, the plugin fails to validate the origin of requests through the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or other protective measures. This allows an attacker to construct malicious web pages or email attachments that, when visited by an authenticated user, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable plugin's endpoints. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the application layer, where it can leverage existing user sessions and privileges to execute unauthorized operations. According to CWE standards, this represents a CWE-352 vulnerability, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it could potentially enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive user information, modify discount configurations that could result in financial loss, or even escalate privileges within the affected WooCommerce store environment. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to create unlimited discount codes, modify existing discount rules, or manipulate user account settings that might affect order processing and customer data. The vulnerability's exploitation does not require elevated privileges, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by attackers with minimal access to the target system. This weakness directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which describes the use of spearphishing attachments to gain initial access and execute malicious code within target environments.
Organizations using the affected QuanticEdge First Order Discount WooCommerce plugin should immediately implement mitigations to protect their systems from exploitation. The primary recommendation involves updating to the latest available version of the plugin where the CSRF vulnerability has been patched and properly addressed. Additionally, implementing proper CSRF token validation mechanisms within the application's request processing workflow would provide defense-in-depth protection against similar vulnerabilities. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can help detect and block malicious requests attempting to exploit this vulnerability, while regular security audits and penetration testing can identify additional weaknesses that might compound the risk. Administrators should also consider implementing additional access controls and monitoring mechanisms to detect unauthorized modifications to discount configurations or other sensitive administrative functions within their WooCommerce environments.