CVE-2024-39678 in Cooked Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/18/2024
Cooked is a recipe plugin for WordPress. The Cooked plugin is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in versions up to, and including, 1.7.15.4 due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the AJAX action handler. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to trick users into performing an action they didn't intend to perform under their current authentication. This issue has been addressed in release version 1.8.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/17/2025
The CVE-2024-39678 vulnerability affects the Cooked recipe plugin for WordPress, a popular content management system extension used for recipe management and display. This particular flaw represents a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that specifically targets the plugin's AJAX action handlers. The vulnerability exists in versions up to and including 1.7.15.4, making it a significant concern for WordPress site administrators who have not yet upgraded to the patched version 1.8.0. The Cooked plugin is widely used across WordPress installations for managing recipe content, which makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it could affect numerous websites that rely on this functionality for their operations.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the absence or improper implementation of nonce validation within the AJAX action handlers. Nonces serve as one-time tokens that verify the authenticity of requests and prevent unauthorized actions from being executed on behalf of authenticated users. In this case, the plugin fails to properly validate these security tokens when processing AJAX requests, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that can be executed by authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. This flaw directly aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities where the application fails to validate the origin of requests. The vulnerability creates a scenario where an attacker can manipulate the plugin's functionality through crafted requests that appear legitimate to the WordPress system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, potentially allowing attackers to perform a wide range of malicious actions within the context of authenticated users. An attacker could leverage this CSRF vulnerability to modify recipe content, delete recipe entries, alter user permissions, or potentially escalate privileges within the WordPress environment. The attack vector typically involves tricking users into clicking on malicious links or visiting compromised websites while logged into their WordPress admin panels. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where administrators frequently access their sites from public or shared computers, as the attack could be executed without the user's awareness. The vulnerability's presence in the AJAX handlers means that even seemingly innocuous user interactions could be exploited to perform unauthorized operations, making detection and prevention challenging.
Security practitioners should note that this vulnerability has been addressed in version 1.8.0 of the Cooked plugin, making immediate upgrade the primary remediation strategy. The absence of known workarounds means that organizations cannot simply modify their configurations or implement temporary fixes to protect against this specific threat. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and unauthorized command execution within web applications. The exploitation of this CSRF vulnerability could potentially lead to more severe consequences such as persistent backdoor installation or data exfiltration, particularly if the compromised WordPress site has additional vulnerabilities or if the authenticated user has elevated privileges. Organizations should conduct immediate inventory checks to identify all installations of the affected plugin versions and implement comprehensive testing procedures before upgrading to ensure compatibility with existing site configurations. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date WordPress plugins and the necessity of implementing proper input validation and authentication mechanisms in all web application components.