CVE-2023-2517

Metform Elementor Contact Form Builder <= 3.3.2 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via permalink_setup

2023-06-22 00:00
Marco Wotschka

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.3.3
Affected Plugin
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor
Affected Version
<= 3.3.2
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE
CVE-2023-2517
View all MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-2517 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the MetForm WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.3.2. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.3.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2023, reported by Marco Wotschka.

Vulnerability Overview

The Metform Elementor Contact Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 3.3.2. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the permalink_setup function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change the permalink structure via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link. While nonce verification is implemented, verification only takes place when a nonce is provided.

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.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Reaching this weakness in MetForm <= 3.3.2 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 MetForm the fix is 3.3.3: builds <= 3.3.2 are affected, anything from 3.3.3 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.3.3, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to MetForm: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: MetForm 3.3.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2517https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ca66afc3-a749-4ddc-8e2f-959f65cebd45https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2517

Related records

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