CVE-2023-6244 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the EventON WordPress plugin, specifically versions up to and including 4.5.4 (Pro) and 2.2.8 (Free). EventON is a popular virtual event calendar plugin used to manage and display event information on WordPress sites. The vulnerability arises from missing or incorrect nonce validation in the save_virtual_event_settings function. Nonces in WordPress are security tokens used to verify that requests to perform sensitive actions originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third parties. Due to the lack of proper nonce validation, an attacker can craft a malicious request that, if executed by an authenticated site administrator (e.g., by clicking a link or visiting a malicious page), allows modification of virtual event settings without the administrator’s consent. This CSRF attack does not require the attacker to be authenticated themselves but relies on social engineering to trick an administrator into performing the action. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 6.5 (medium severity), reflecting that the attack can be performed remotely over the network with low complexity and no privileges required, but user interaction (administrator clicking a link) is necessary. The impact is primarily on the integrity of the event settings, potentially allowing attackers to alter event details, disrupt event scheduling, or inject malicious content into event descriptions. There is no indication of direct confidentiality or availability impact. No known exploits are reported in the wild yet, and no official patches are linked at the time of publication. This vulnerability highlights the importance of nonce validation in WordPress plugins to prevent unauthorized state-changing actions via CSRF.

For European organizations using WordPress sites with the EventON plugin, this vulnerability poses a risk to the integrity of event-related data. Organizations that rely on virtual events for customer engagement, internal communications, or public announcements could face disruptions or misinformation if attackers manipulate event settings. This could lead to reputational damage, loss of trust, or operational confusion, especially for entities organizing critical or large-scale events. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, the unauthorized modification of event data could be leveraged as part of broader social engineering or phishing campaigns, potentially increasing the attack surface. European organizations in sectors such as education, government, cultural institutions, and businesses that heavily use virtual events are particularly at risk. The requirement for administrator interaction reduces the likelihood of automated exploitation but does not eliminate the threat, especially if phishing or spear-phishing tactics are employed. Given the widespread use of WordPress in Europe and the popularity of EventON, the vulnerability could have a broad impact if not addressed promptly.

1. Immediate mitigation should include updating the EventON plugin to a version that addresses this vulnerability once an official patch is released by the vendor. 2. Until a patch is available, administrators should be trained and alerted to the risk of clicking on unsolicited or suspicious links, especially those that could trigger changes in site settings. 3. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious POST requests targeting the save_virtual_event_settings endpoint or similar plugin-specific URLs. 4. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) and SameSite cookie attributes to reduce the risk of CSRF attacks by limiting cross-origin requests. 5. Review and harden user roles and permissions to minimize the number of administrators with access to sensitive plugin settings. 6. Conduct regular security audits of WordPress plugins and monitor for unusual changes in event data or site configurations. 7. Consider disabling or restricting the EventON plugin temporarily if the risk is deemed unacceptable and no patch is available. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on immediate behavioral controls, technical defenses at the application and network layers, and organizational awareness.