CVE-2024-37491 in Rife Free Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Apollo13Themes Rife Free allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects Rife Free: from n/a through 2.4.18.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2025
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-37491 represents a critical security flaw within the Apollo13Themes Rife Free WordPress theme, specifically impacting versions ranging from the initial release through 2.4.18. This vulnerability stems from the theme's inadequate implementation of anti-CSRF protection mechanisms, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit user sessions and execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The flaw manifests when the theme fails to properly validate and verify the origin of HTTP requests, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the target system. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.002 related to Phishing via Service Providers, as the vulnerability enables attackers to manipulate user sessions through crafted web requests.
The technical implementation of this CSRF flaw in the Rife Free theme demonstrates a failure in proper request validation and token generation mechanisms. When users navigate to malicious websites or click on compromised links while authenticated to a WordPress site running the vulnerable theme, attackers can leverage the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens to perform actions such as modifying theme settings, creating new users, or altering content without the victim's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data manipulation as it can potentially lead to complete system compromise when combined with other exploitation techniques. The lack of CSRF protection tokens means that legitimate requests from authenticated users can be hijacked and reused by attackers, bypassing standard security controls that should prevent unauthorized modifications to the web application's state.
The operational consequences of this vulnerability present significant risks to WordPress administrators and website owners who utilize the Rife Free theme. Attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to administrative functions, modify website content, inject malicious code, or even establish persistent backdoors within the compromised system. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple versions indicates a fundamental flaw in the theme's security architecture rather than a simple oversight, suggesting that the issue may have been present for an extended period without proper detection or remediation. Organizations relying on this theme for their WordPress installations face potential data breaches, website defacement, and reputational damage when attackers successfully exploit this vulnerability, particularly in environments where users may inadvertently click on malicious links or visit compromised websites.
Security mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-37491 must prioritize immediate remediation through theme updates to versions that implement proper CSRF protection mechanisms. System administrators should ensure that all instances of the Rife Free theme are updated to the latest available version that addresses this vulnerability, typically through the WordPress theme update system or manual installation of patched versions. Additionally, implementing web application firewalls with CSRF detection capabilities can provide an additional layer of protection while waiting for official patches. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their WordPress installations to identify other potential vulnerabilities that may compound the risks associated with CSRF attacks. The implementation of proper CSRF token validation, including the use of unique tokens for each user session and proper validation of request origins, represents the fundamental requirement for addressing this vulnerability according to industry best practices and security frameworks such as those outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity guidelines.