CVE-2023-52223 - Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Vulnerability in MailerLite – WooCommerce Integration (Versions n/a

Hey folks! Today we're going to discuss a crucial security issue discovered in MailerLite – WooCommerce integration. The vulnerability recently identified is Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), also known as XSRF or "sea surf." It's assigned as CVE-2023-52223 and affects versions from n/a through 2..8. As a website owner or developer using WooCommerce and MailerLite, it's essential to understand the possible repercussions of this vulnerability and take appropriate action to secure your website.

What is MailerLite – WooCommerce Integration?

MailerLite is an email marketing service that provides simple yet powerful tools to create, send, and track email campaigns. WooCommerce, on the other hand, is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress designed for small to large-sized online merchants.

The MailerLite – WooCommerce integration allows website owners to sync their customer data from WooCommerce with their MailerLite account. This synchronization automates the email marketing process, making it more efficient and driving more sales.

Vulnerability Details

As mentioned above, the vulnerability discovered is a CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attack. But what is CSRF, and how could it impact MailerLite – WooCommerce integration?

CSRF is a type of vulnerability that allows an attacker to force an end user to execute unwanted actions on a web application they are currently authenticated with. In layman's terms, an attacker can trick a user into performing actions they didn't intend to by sending unauthorized commands from a different website. When a user visits a malicious page or clicks on a suspicious link, the attacker can forge an HTTP request and execute actions in the targeted application without the user's knowledge.

In the context of MailerLite – WooCommerce integration, an attacker can exploit the CSRF vulnerability to alter the synchronization settings between the two platforms, change MailerLite API keys, or even disable the integration entirely.

Here's an example code snippet to better understand the issue

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <body>
    <script>
      // CSRF attack using a malicious page
      var form = document.createElement("form");
      var element1 = document.createElement("input"); 
      form.method = "POST";
      form.action = "<URL>/wp-admin/admin.php?page=mailerlite_main&mailerlite_action=edit_group"; 
      element1.value = "<forged_data>";
      element1.name = "group_id";
      form.appendChild(element1);
      document.body.appendChild(form);

      form.submit();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Patching and Solution

As a consumer of the MailerLite – WooCommerce integration plugin, it's crucial to check whether you're using the vulnerable version (n/a through 2..8). If your website is using one of these versions, update it as soon as possible to mitigate any potential CSRF attacks.

An effective solution to mitigate CSRF vulnerabilities is to use anti-CSRF tokens called "nonce." This cryptographic technique adds a unique token that is included in every HTTP request to make it challenging for attackers to forge valid requests. WordPress has a functionality to create and validate "nonce" tokens, which can be used by the MailerLite plugin developers to fix this issue.

Here are the relevant original references

1. [CVE entry for CVE-2023-52223](<https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-52223>)
2. [MailerLite – WooCommerce Integration](<https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailerlite-woocommerce/>)
3. [WordPress Nonce Implementation](<https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/security/nonces/>)

Conclusion

To conclude, it is vital for MailerLite – WooCommerce integration users to ensure their website is secured against CSRF attacks. Ensure that your website is using a plugin version higher than 2..8 to mitigate this vulnerability following the details provided in this post. Stay secure!

Timeline

Published on: 02/28/2024 17:15:07 UTC
Last modified on: 02/29/2024 13:49:47 UTC