CVE-2024-37243 in Vandana Lite Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Blossom Themes Vandana Lite allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects Vandana Lite: from n/a through 1.1.9.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/07/2026
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-37243 resides within the Blossom Themes Vandana Lite WordPress theme, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of user sessions and administrative operations. This vulnerability stems from the theme's inadequate implementation of anti-CSRF protection mechanisms, specifically within its administrative interfaces and form processing functionalities. The flaw allows malicious actors to exploit the absence of proper token validation, enabling unauthorized actions to be performed on behalf of authenticated users who visit compromised web pages or click on malicious links. The vulnerability affects all versions of the Vandana Lite theme from the initial release through version 1.1.9, indicating a prolonged window of exposure that has likely allowed the flaw to be actively exploited in the wild. The issue manifests when users navigate to malicious websites or receive crafted emails containing links that trigger unintended administrative actions within the vulnerable theme's context. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the principle of least privilege and session management, where user authentication credentials are leveraged without proper verification of the originating request source. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery flaws in web applications and represents one of the most common and dangerous web application security issues. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to WordPress site administrators who may unknowingly perform administrative actions such as changing user roles, modifying theme settings, or altering content without proper authorization. The attack surface extends beyond simple privilege escalation to include potential data manipulation and unauthorized modifications to the website's configuration, making it particularly dangerous for sites that rely heavily on the Vandana Lite theme for their presentation and functionality. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that it operates at the theme level rather than the core WordPress platform, meaning that even sites with updated core WordPress installations remain vulnerable if they continue using the affected theme version. This flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004, which describes legitimate credentials usage through the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities, and T1531, which covers the use of unauthorized commands to gain access to systems. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple versions suggests a systemic design flaw in the theme's security implementation rather than a one-time coding error, indicating that the developers may not have fully understood or implemented proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The lack of a version identifier for the initial release in the affected range further complicates the identification of exactly when the vulnerability was introduced, potentially indicating that the flaw has been present since the theme's inception. Security researchers have documented similar CSRF vulnerabilities in WordPress themes where developers fail to implement proper nonce validation or token generation mechanisms, leading to widespread exploitation across numerous themes and plugins. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill from attackers, as it relies on the inherent trust that web browsers place in authenticated sessions and the absence of proper cross-origin request validation. Organizations using the affected theme should immediately consider implementing temporary mitigations such as restricting administrative access to trusted networks, implementing additional authentication layers, and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities. The vulnerability's remediation requires updating to a patched version of the Vandana Lite theme, but this process must be carefully managed to ensure that no data loss occurs during the upgrade process. The flaw's presence in a popular WordPress theme demonstrates the critical importance of security auditing for all components of web applications, including themes and plugins, as these elements often contain the same level of security exposure as core platform components. This vulnerability also highlights the need for automated security scanning tools to identify such flaws in WordPress installations, particularly in environments where multiple themes and plugins are in use, as the complexity of interactions between these components can obscure the presence of security vulnerabilities. The incident underscores the necessity for developers to adhere to established security frameworks and best practices, including the implementation of proper CSRF token generation and validation mechanisms, which are fundamental requirements for secure web application development according to industry standards and security guidelines.