CVE-2024-37478 in Ashe Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WP Royal Ashe allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects Ashe: from n/a through 2.233.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2025
The CVE-2024-37478 vulnerability represents a critical Cross-Site Request Forgery weakness in the WP Royal Ashe WordPress theme, specifically impacting versions ranging from the initial release through 2.233. This vulnerability exposes websites utilizing the Ashe theme to unauthorized actions that can be executed without user consent, creating significant security risks for WordPress installations. The flaw resides in the theme's insufficient validation of cross-site requests, allowing malicious actors to exploit the trust relationship between the victim's browser and the targeted website. Such vulnerabilities typically arise when web applications fail to implement proper anti-CSRF mechanisms, leaving them susceptible to attacks that manipulate authenticated sessions. The affected range indicates that all versions of the Ashe theme up to and including 2.233 contain this security weakness, suggesting a prolonged period during which users were exposed to potential exploitation.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the theme's failure to properly validate the origin of HTTP requests, particularly those involving state-changing operations within the WordPress admin interface. When a user visits a malicious website or clicks on a compromised link while authenticated to a WordPress site using the vulnerable Ashe theme, the attacker can craft requests that appear legitimate to the server. This occurs because the theme does not implement adequate CSRF tokens or referer validation checks that would normally prevent unauthorized requests from being processed. The vulnerability can be exploited to perform actions such as modifying user permissions, deleting content, changing configuration settings, or executing administrative operations that the authenticated user did not intend to authorize. This weakness directly violates the fundamental principle of web security that requires explicit user consent for any state-changing operations within web applications.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-37478 extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can lead to complete compromise of WordPress installations when combined with other attack vectors. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can potentially gain administrative control over affected websites, leading to data breaches, defacement, or the installation of malicious code. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of the theme's administrative interface, making it particularly dangerous for websites that rely heavily on the Ashe theme's features for content management and user interaction. Given that WordPress themes often handle sensitive operations through AJAX requests and admin panels, this CSRF flaw can result in cascading security issues throughout the entire website infrastructure. The impact is amplified when considering that many WordPress sites may not implement additional layers of protection beyond what is provided by the theme itself, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
Organizations and website administrators should immediately update their Ashe theme installations to versions beyond 2.233 to remediate this vulnerability, as the attack surface remains open for all affected versions. The recommended mitigation strategy includes not only updating the theme but also implementing additional security measures such as Content Security Policy headers, proper session management, and regular security audits of WordPress installations. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1213.002 for Credential Access through the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious request patterns that might indicate CSRF attack attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining current theme versions and adhering to secure coding practices that include proper input validation and request origin verification. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be integrated into the operational security framework to identify and address similar weaknesses before they can be exploited by malicious actors in the broader threat landscape.