CVE-2022-38144 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress, developed by gVectors Team. This vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin up to and including version 2.0.5. CSRF vulnerabilities allow an attacker to trick an authenticated user into submitting a forged HTTP request to a web application, thereby performing actions without the user's consent or knowledge. In this case, the vulnerability exists because the wpForo Forum plugin does not adequately verify the origin of requests that perform sensitive actions, enabling attackers to craft malicious web pages or links that, when visited by an authenticated forum user, can execute unauthorized commands on their behalf. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 reflects the high impact and ease of exploitation: the attack vector is network-based (AV:N), requires no privileges (PR:N), but does require user interaction (UI:R). The vulnerability affects confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), meaning an attacker could potentially read, modify, or delete forum data, or disrupt forum services. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the lack of patches at the time of disclosure and the widespread use of WordPress forums make this a significant threat. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, which is a well-known web security weakness related to insufficient request validation against CSRF attacks. Given the plugin’s role in managing forum interactions, exploitation could lead to unauthorized posting, user privilege escalation, or forum configuration changes, severely impacting the trustworthiness and operation of affected websites.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial, especially for entities relying on WordPress forums for customer engagement, community support, or internal communications. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized content posting, defacement, or data leakage, damaging organizational reputation and user trust. The integrity of forum discussions could be compromised, potentially spreading misinformation or malicious links. Availability impacts could disrupt communication channels critical for business operations or customer service. Additionally, if forums are used for sensitive discussions or as part of customer identity verification processes, confidentiality breaches could expose personal or proprietary information, raising compliance concerns under GDPR. The ease of exploitation without authentication means attackers can target users broadly, increasing the risk of widespread compromise. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, education, and government, which often use forums for stakeholder engagement, are particularly at risk due to the sensitivity of their data and regulatory requirements.

1. Immediate upgrade: Organizations should upgrade the wpForo Forum plugin to the latest version beyond 2.0.5 where the vulnerability is patched. If an official patch is not yet available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin or restricting its use to trusted users only. 2. Implement CSRF tokens: Ensure that all state-changing requests in the forum require a valid, unique CSRF token that is verified server-side to prevent unauthorized requests. 3. Harden user permissions: Limit forum administrative privileges to essential personnel and enforce the principle of least privilege to reduce the impact of compromised accounts. 4. Monitor and log forum activity: Deploy monitoring to detect unusual forum actions or spikes in activity that could indicate exploitation attempts. 5. Use Web Application Firewalls (WAFs): Configure WAF rules to detect and block suspicious CSRF attack patterns targeting the forum endpoints. 6. Educate users: Inform forum users about the risks of clicking on suspicious links and encourage safe browsing habits to reduce the likelihood of successful CSRF attacks. 7. Regular security assessments: Conduct periodic vulnerability scans and penetration tests focusing on web applications and plugins to detect similar issues proactively.