CVE-2023-27453 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the LWS Tools plugin, versions up to and including 2.3.1. LWS Tools is a WordPress plugin developed by LWS that provides various utilities to enhance website management. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, which pertains to CSRF attacks where an attacker tricks an authenticated user into submitting a forged HTTP request, thereby performing unwanted actions on a web application where the user is authenticated. This specific vulnerability allows an attacker to induce a victim to execute state-changing operations without their consent, potentially leading to integrity and availability impacts on the affected website. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium severity), with the vector indicating that the attack can be performed remotely (AV:N), requires no privileges (PR:N), but does require user interaction (UI:R). The attack complexity is low (AC:L), and the scope is unchanged (S:U). The impact metrics show no confidentiality impact (C:N), but low integrity (I:L) and low availability (A:L) impacts. No known exploits are reported in the wild as of the publication date (November 22, 2023). No patch links are provided in the data, suggesting that users should monitor for official updates or mitigations from the vendor. The vulnerability could allow attackers to perform unauthorized actions such as changing plugin settings or triggering operations that disrupt normal website functionality, potentially leading to degraded service or unauthorized modifications.

For European organizations using WordPress websites with the LWS Tools plugin, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized state-changing actions initiated via CSRF attacks. While the confidentiality of data is not directly impacted, the integrity and availability of the affected websites could be compromised. This could lead to unauthorized changes in website configuration, disruption of services, or partial denial of service conditions. Organizations relying on these websites for customer interaction, e-commerce, or internal communications could face operational disruptions and reputational damage. Given the medium severity and the requirement for user interaction, the threat is moderate but should not be ignored, especially for organizations with high web presence or regulatory obligations under GDPR that require maintaining service integrity and availability. Attackers could exploit this vulnerability by tricking authenticated users into clicking malicious links or visiting crafted web pages, which could be facilitated through phishing campaigns targeting employees or customers.

European organizations should take proactive steps to mitigate this vulnerability beyond generic advice. First, verify if an official patch or update from LWS is available and apply it promptly. If no patch exists, implement CSRF protection mechanisms such as verifying anti-CSRF tokens on all state-changing requests within the plugin's scope. Web application firewalls (WAFs) should be configured to detect and block suspicious CSRF attack patterns targeting the LWS Tools plugin endpoints. Additionally, organizations should conduct user awareness training to reduce the risk of phishing or social engineering attacks that could trigger CSRF exploits. Restricting plugin usage to trusted administrators and limiting the number of users with high privileges can reduce the attack surface. Regular security audits and monitoring of web server logs for unusual POST requests or referrer anomalies related to the plugin can help detect attempted exploitation. Finally, consider isolating critical WordPress instances or using security plugins that enhance CSRF protections.