CVE-2024-2235 in Himer Theme
Summary
by MITRE • 07/03/2024
The Himer WordPress theme before 2.1.1 does not have CSRF checks in some places, which could allow attackers to make users vote on any polls, including those they don't have access to via a CSRF attack
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-2235 affects the Himer WordPress theme version 2.1.0 and earlier, presenting a critical cross-site request forgery weakness that undermines the integrity of poll voting mechanisms. This flaw resides in the theme's insufficient validation of user requests, specifically within the poll functionality where CSRF protection measures are either absent or inadequately implemented. The vulnerability allows malicious actors to exploit the lack of proper anti-CSRF token validation, enabling them to craft malicious requests that can manipulate poll results without user consent or awareness. Attackers can leverage this weakness to cast votes on polls that users should not have access to, potentially leading to unauthorized influence over poll outcomes and manipulation of user-generated content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the theme's failure to incorporate proper CSRF protection mechanisms within its voting endpoints. According to CWE-352, this represents a classic cross-site request forgery vulnerability where the application fails to validate that requests originate from legitimate user interactions rather than crafted malicious requests. The absence of anti-CSRF tokens or proper request validation means that authenticated users who visit malicious websites or click on compromised links could unknowingly trigger poll voting actions. This weakness operates under the principle that the application should verify the authenticity of requests through mechanisms such as token validation, referer header checks, or origin validation to prevent unauthorized actions from being executed on behalf of authenticated users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple poll manipulation, as it represents a fundamental breach in the theme's security architecture that could be exploited to compromise the integrity of user-generated content and community voting systems. Attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to influence poll outcomes in ways that benefit malicious actors, such as promoting specific content, manipulating user engagement metrics, or creating false representations of community sentiment. The vulnerability also poses risks to user trust and platform integrity, as users may not realize their votes are being manipulated or that they are being coerced into participating in polls they shouldn't have access to. This represents a significant concern for WordPress sites that rely on community voting systems, as it undermines the democratic nature of such systems and allows for unauthorized interference with user participation.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-2235 should prioritize immediate updates to the Himer theme to version 2.1.1 or later, where the CSRF protection mechanisms have been properly implemented. Security administrators should also implement additional defensive measures such as monitoring for unauthorized voting patterns and ensuring that all poll-related endpoints validate proper authentication tokens. The implementation of proper CSRF protection should follow established security standards and include mechanisms such as unique tokens generated per user session, proper validation of HTTP referer headers, and implementation of the SameSite cookie attributes. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious voting patterns that may indicate CSRF attacks. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability aligns with T1566.001 which covers social engineering techniques through malicious links, and T1071.004 which involves application layer protocol manipulation. The vulnerability also demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and authentication checks as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten security principles, particularly focusing on the prevention of unauthorized access to application functions through inadequate protection mechanisms.