Google Analytics MU < 2.4 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.4
- Affected Plugin
- Google Analytics MU
- Affected Version
<= 2.3.1- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Google Analytics MU WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.3.1. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2014, reported by Tom Adams.
Vulnerability Overview
The Google Analytics MU plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions before 2.4. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the UAID function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to arbitrarily manipulate settings via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in Google Analytics MU <= 2.3.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Google Analytics MU the fix is 2.4: builds <= 2.3.1 are affected, anything from 2.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Google Analytics MU: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Google Analytics MU 2.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
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