Description
A critical vulnerability has been identified in the CarSpot – Dealership WordPress Classified Theme, a popular theme for WordPress users. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to reset arbitrary user passwords, including those of administrators. This could result in account takeovers by malicious actors, escalating privileges and gaining full control of the affected WordPress site.
Affected Product(s)
The vulnerability affects all versions of the CarSpot – Dealership WordPress Classified Theme up to and including version 2.4.3.
Technical Details
The CarSpot theme is a highly regarded solution within the WordPress ecosystem for creating automotive listings and classified websites. Despite its popularity, a critical issue has been identified in the password reset mechanism, where user input is insufficiently validated. Specifically, this vulnerability stems from the theme’s failure to properly verify a password-reset token before allowing the change of a user’s password. This failure unintentionally permits unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary password resets and seize control of other users’ accounts, including administrative accounts.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-12860, has been rated as CRITICAL with a CVSSv3 score of 9.8. The reason for its severity lies in its ease of exploitation and its potential impact. A successful exploitation does not require authentication, which makes the flaw particularly dangerous as it minimizes the barriers for attack.
Exploit Overview:
- **Authentication Token Bypass**: The password resetting process depends on a validation token supposed to link the password change request with the concerned user. However, in this case, the theme improperly processes or outright neglects the token validation, allowing attackers to manipulate the request.
- **Arbitrary Account Takeover**: An attacker can construct an HTTP request targeting the password reset endpoint and specify the account intended for takeover. By bypassing token validation, they can reset the victim’s password and subsequently access their account.
- **Escalation of Privileges**: With access to an administrative account, attackers can exploit other aspects of the WordPress environment, such as installing malware or additional malicious plugins.
- **Scope of Impact**: Many websites use CarSpot’s theme, making this vulnerability widespread and attractive to threat actors targeting WordPress installations.
Product Versions Details:
The issue impacts a wide range of versions, starting from early versions such as 1.0 up to the latest affected version, 2.4.3. Any WordPress site running these versions is vulnerable, and administrators are urged to take immediate action.
Threat Actor Interest:
Given that WordPress is one of the most commonly used Content Management Systems (CMS), themes like CarSpot represent a high-value target for attackers aiming at mass exploitation. This is further intensified by automated attack tools that can identify vulnerable instances and exploit known flaws. For a comprehensive understanding of the vulnerability and technical implementation, reference links such as CVE MITRE Record and ThemeForest dive deeper into specific security flaws and affected versions.
Weakness
The primary weakness associated with this vulnerability is categorized under CWE-620: **Unverified Password Change**. The theme fails to validate or enforce authentication mechanisms properly before allowing a password to be changed. This creates a direct pathway for attackers to manipulate sensitive credentials.
Impact Assessment
If exploited, this vulnerability could allow unauthenticated attackers to: – Alter passwords of any user account, including administrative accounts. – Take complete control of the WordPress site, assuming an administrator’s role. – Execute further malicious activities such as uploading malware, altering content, or compromising sensitive data. – Use the compromised site as a base to execute phishing or upload malicious payloads, potentially impacting end-users and destroying the integrity of the website. This combination of privilege escalation, account takeover, and ease of exploitation makes the vulnerability not just a threat to individual sites but to the broader WordPress user community.
Active Exploitation
There is no confirmed report of active exploitation as of the publication time, but given the vulnerability’s CRITICAL nature and its ease of abuse, adversarial groups may already be working to incorporate it into exploit kits. Additionally, automated scanning and exploitation tools for WordPress vulnerabilities are continually evolving and could soon target this specific weakness.
Ransomware Association
This vulnerability has not been explicitly linked to any ransomware operations as of now. However, ransomware gangs often seek vulnerabilities in widely adopted platforms to broaden their access. Should an attacker gain administrative control of a site, they can easily encrypt the content and demand a ransom for its recovery. This makes vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-12860 potential doorways for future ransomware-related activities.
Mitigation and Resolution
The theme developer has addressed the vulnerability by releasing an updated version (2.4.4) that rectifies the faulty password reset mechanism. Users are strongly advised to update to this version immediately to safeguard their WordPress websites from potential exploitation.
Recommendations
- We strongly recommend that users immediately update to CarSpot version 2.4.4 or later to mitigate this vulnerability.
- Disable password-reset functions temporarily if upgrading is not possible in the short term.
- Implement additional security plugins on WordPress, such as two-factor authentication (2FA), which adds another layer of protection despite the vulnerability.
- Regularly review and monitor HTTP request logs to identify malicious activities targeting password-reset endpoints.
- Revoke administrative access from unused accounts to limit exploitation opportunities.
- Conduct regular audits of WordPress installations to identify and rectify vulnerabilities in themes, plugins, and the core as part of website maintenance practices.
- Refer to security advisories from WordPress and the theme developer for emerging patches or updates.
References