CVE-2024-37490 in Bard Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WP Royal Bard allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects Bard: from n/a through 2.210.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2025
The CVE-2024-37490 vulnerability represents a critical Cross-Site Request Forgery flaw within the WP Royal Bard plugin, a widely used WordPress theme framework that has been impacted across versions from the initial release through 2.210. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery conditions where attackers can trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions on web applications. The vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to implement proper anti-CSRF measures in its administrative interfaces, creating a significant security risk for WordPress sites that utilize this theme framework. The flaw particularly affects the plugin's administrative functionality where users with appropriate privileges can be coerced into executing malicious operations without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs when legitimate administrative users visit malicious websites or click on compromised links that trigger requests to the affected WordPress installation. The attack exploits the trust relationship between the user's browser and the WordPress admin interface, allowing attackers to perform actions such as modifying theme settings, creating new user accounts, or altering content without the user's awareness. This particular weakness exists because the plugin does not validate the origin of requests or implement proper CSRF tokens in its administrative forms and API endpoints. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited through various vectors including email phishing campaigns, compromised websites, or social engineering attacks that leverage the trust users place in their WordPress administrative interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification as it can enable attackers to establish persistent access to affected WordPress installations. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability could potentially escalate privileges, install malicious plugins, modify core WordPress files, or even establish backdoors for continued access. The affected version range from n/a through 2.210 indicates that this vulnerability has existed for an extended period, potentially allowing attackers to exploit it across numerous installations. This vulnerability directly maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting through social engineering. The impact is particularly severe for organizations that rely on WP Royal Bard for their website functionality, as the compromise of administrative interfaces can lead to complete site takeover and potential data breaches.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest version of the WP Royal Bard plugin where available, implementing additional CSRF protection measures, and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities. The recommended approach includes deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block CSRF attacks, implementing proper CSRF token validation across all administrative interfaces, and conducting thorough security audits of WordPress installations. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unusual administrative activities and establishing incident response procedures specifically addressing CSRF vulnerabilities. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and the necessity of comprehensive security testing that includes validation of anti-CSRF protections within web applications. Organizations should also consider implementing principle of least privilege access controls and multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts to reduce the impact of potential CSRF exploitation.