Really Simple Google Tag Manager <= 1.0.6 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via plugin_activation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.0.7
- Affected Plugin
- Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM)
- Affected Version
<= 1.0.6- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2023-23801
At a glance
CVE-2023-23801 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.6. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2023, reported by István Márton.
Vulnerability Overview
The Really Simple Google Tag Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.0.6. This is due to missing nonce validation on the plugin_activation() function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to activate arbitrary plugins, 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.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM) <= 1.0.6 carries this weakness at plugin_activation(), and reaching it 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 Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM) the fix is 1.0.7: builds <= 1.0.6 are affected, anything from 1.0.7 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.0.7, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM): WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Really Simple Google Tag Manager (GTM) 1.0.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C