CVE-2024-12876 in Golo Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 03/07/2025
The Golo - City Travel Guide WordPress Theme theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 1.6.10. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their password. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change arbitrary user's passwords, including administrators, and leverage that to gain access to their account.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-12876 affects the Golo - City Travel Guide WordPress Theme, a popular theme used for travel-related websites built on the WordPress platform. This security flaw represents a critical privilege escalation issue that undermines the fundamental authentication mechanisms of the affected theme. The vulnerability exists within the theme's password update functionality, where proper user identity validation is absent or insufficiently implemented. Attackers can exploit this weakness to manipulate password reset processes without proper authentication, effectively bypassing the standard security controls that should protect user accounts from unauthorized access attempts.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authentication checks within the theme's password management system. When users attempt to update their passwords, the theme fails to properly verify that the requesting user possesses legitimate authorization to make such changes. This validation gap creates an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate users, particularly administrators. The vulnerability specifically affects all versions of the theme up to and including version 1.6.10, indicating that the security flaw has persisted across multiple releases without adequate remediation. This persistent nature suggests either a fundamental design flaw in the authentication flow or insufficient security testing during development cycles.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple password changes to encompass complete account takeover capabilities. An unauthenticated attacker can leverage this weakness to modify passwords for any user account within the WordPress installation, including high-privilege administrator accounts. Once an attacker successfully changes an administrator's password, they gain full control over the website's content management system, potentially leading to data breaches, defacement, unauthorized content modification, and the ability to install malicious plugins or themes. This level of access allows attackers to compromise the entire website infrastructure and potentially use it as a staging ground for further attacks against visitors or other connected systems. The vulnerability essentially transforms any user account into a potential entry point for complete system compromise.
Security professionals should treat this vulnerability as a critical threat requiring immediate attention, particularly for websites running affected theme versions. The risk assessment should consider not only the direct impact on user accounts but also the potential for broader system compromise and data exposure. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including theme version updates to the latest secure release, which should contain proper authentication validation mechanisms. Additionally, administrators should review user account permissions and implement additional security measures such as two-factor authentication to reduce the impact of potential compromises. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues, and represents a specific implementation of the broader ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts, where attackers leverage compromised credentials to maintain persistent access to systems. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar authentication bypass vulnerabilities in other WordPress themes and plugins that may be susceptible to similar exploitation patterns.