CVE-2024-31363 in LifterLMS Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 04/12/2024
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in LifterLMS.This issue affects LifterLMS: from n/a through 7.5.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/06/2025
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-31363 represents a critical security flaw within the LifterLMS learning management system platform. This vulnerability exists in versions ranging from the initial release through 7.5.0, creating a persistent risk for organizations utilizing this educational software solution. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of cross-site requests, allowing malicious actors to exploit the system's trust relationship with authenticated users. This vulnerability specifically impacts the core authentication and authorization mechanisms that govern user interactions within the LifterLMS environment, potentially enabling unauthorized actions to be executed on behalf of legitimate users without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs through the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms in critical administrative endpoints. When users navigate to malicious websites or receive crafted payloads, the vulnerable LifterLMS system fails to verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same site. This weakness allows attackers to construct malicious requests that leverage the authenticated user's session cookies and privileges, effectively bypassing the intended security controls. The vulnerability manifests when users perform actions such as modifying course content, updating user permissions, or accessing administrative functions that require proper authorization. This flaw operates at the application layer and specifically targets the web application's session management and request validation processes, making it particularly dangerous in environments where administrators have elevated privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to encompass potential system compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive educational content. Attackers could exploit this weakness to modify course materials, alter user enrollment status, change administrative credentials, or even delete critical learning resources. Organizations utilizing LifterLMS may face significant reputational damage, regulatory compliance issues, and potential data breaches if this vulnerability is exploited. The vulnerability affects the entire user management and content administration functionality within the platform, potentially compromising the integrity of educational data and user privacy. This risk is particularly elevated in environments where LifterLMS serves as the primary platform for online education delivery, as unauthorized modifications could disrupt learning processes and compromise academic integrity. The vulnerability's impact is further amplified by the fact that it affects the entire software version range, meaning organizations may be exposed to risk regardless of their current patch status.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest available version of LifterLMS that addresses this vulnerability, typically version 7.5.1 or later. The recommended approach involves deploying proper anti-CSRF token implementation across all administrative endpoints, ensuring that each request includes unique, unpredictable tokens that validate the origin of the request. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls should be configured to monitor for suspicious cross-site request patterns, while security headers including Content Security Policy should be implemented to further restrict cross-site request forgery attempts. System administrators should also conduct thorough security audits of their LifterLMS installations, reviewing user permissions and access controls to limit the potential impact of any successful exploitation attempts. According to CWE guidelines, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery issues, while ATT&CK framework categorizes this under TA0001 Initial Access and TA0003 Persistence tactics, emphasizing the need for comprehensive defensive measures including regular security updates and proper access control implementation.