The VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS plugin for WordPress suffers from a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-11641, classified under CWE-352. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 1.7.2 due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the 'save' function within the plugin. Nonces are security tokens used to validate the authenticity of requests to prevent CSRF attacks. Without proper nonce validation, an attacker can craft a malicious request that, when executed by an authenticated user (such as an administrator), results in unauthorized changes to plugin access privileges. The attack vector involves tricking a user into clicking a specially crafted link or visiting a malicious webpage. Successful exploitation allows attackers with subscriber-level privileges or above to upload arbitrary files onto the server hosting the WordPress site. This file upload capability can be leveraged to execute remote code, potentially leading to full system compromise. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network, requires no authentication for the initial attack but does require user interaction, and impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.8, indicating a high severity level. No patches or official fixes are currently linked, and no known exploits in the wild have been reported as of the publication date.

The impact of CVE-2024-11641 on organizations worldwide is significant, especially for those relying on the VikBooking plugin for hotel booking and property management. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized privilege escalation, arbitrary file uploads, and remote code execution, potentially resulting in full server compromise. This can cause data breaches exposing sensitive customer and business information, defacement or disruption of booking services, and the deployment of malware or ransomware. The vulnerability undermines trust in the affected websites and can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties. Since WordPress is widely used globally and the VikBooking plugin targets hospitality businesses, the threat affects a broad range of organizations, including hotels, travel agencies, and property managers. The requirement for user interaction and the need to trick an authenticated user slightly reduce the attack surface but do not eliminate the risk, as phishing and social engineering remain effective attack vectors. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests a window for proactive mitigation before widespread exploitation occurs.

To mitigate CVE-2024-11641, organizations should immediately implement the following measures: 1) Monitor for updates or patches from the VikBooking plugin developers and apply them as soon as they become available. 2) In the absence of official patches, consider temporarily disabling the VikBooking plugin or restricting its use to trusted administrators only. 3) Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the plugin's 'save' function, especially those lacking valid nonces. 4) Educate site administrators and users with elevated privileges about the risks of phishing and social engineering attacks to reduce the likelihood of clicking malicious links. 5) Employ strict user role management to limit subscriber-level privileges and ensure that only necessary users have administrative access. 6) Regularly audit and monitor server file systems and web logs for unauthorized file uploads or suspicious activity. 7) Harden the WordPress environment by disabling file editing through the dashboard and restricting file permissions to minimize the impact of potential exploitation. 8) Consider implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative accounts to add an additional security layer. These steps collectively reduce the risk of exploitation and limit potential damage.