CVE-2024-12394 is a medium-severity vulnerability classified as CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery) affecting the Action Network plugin for WordPress, developed by jonathankissam. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 1.4.4 due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on a critical function within the plugin. Nonces in WordPress serve as tokens to verify that requests originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third parties. The absence or improper implementation of nonce validation allows an unauthenticated attacker to craft malicious web requests that, when executed by an authenticated site administrator (or user with sufficient privileges), can perform unauthorized actions on the site. These actions could include modifying settings, injecting malicious scripts, or other administrative tasks depending on the plugin's functionality. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as clicking a specially crafted link or visiting a malicious webpage, making social engineering a key component of the attack vector. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality and integrity by potentially allowing unauthorized changes or data manipulation but does not affect availability. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 6.1, reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, but user interaction is necessary, and the scope is changed due to potential impact beyond the vulnerable component. No public exploits have been reported yet, but the vulnerability is published and should be addressed promptly. The plugin is commonly used in political and activist campaign contexts, increasing the risk profile for targeted organizations.

The primary impact of CVE-2024-12394 is unauthorized actions performed on WordPress sites running the vulnerable Action Network plugin. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to manipulate site content, alter configurations, or inject malicious scripts by tricking privileged users into executing forged requests. This can lead to data integrity issues, unauthorized data disclosure, or reputational damage if malicious content is injected. Although availability is not directly impacted, the trustworthiness and security posture of affected sites can be significantly undermined. Organizations relying on this plugin for campaign management or activism may face targeted attacks aiming to disrupt their operations or compromise sensitive information. The medium severity rating reflects the need for user interaction and the limited scope of impact compared to more critical vulnerabilities but still represents a significant risk, especially for high-profile or politically sensitive websites.

To mitigate CVE-2024-12394, organizations should immediately update the Action Network plugin to a version that includes proper nonce validation once available. In the absence of an official patch, administrators can implement manual nonce checks on the affected functions by reviewing and modifying the plugin code to ensure all state-changing requests require valid nonces. Additionally, educating site administrators about the risks of clicking untrusted links and employing web application firewalls (WAFs) that detect and block CSRF attempts can reduce exploitation likelihood. Enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative accounts adds an extra layer of defense. Regularly auditing plugin permissions and minimizing the number of users with administrative privileges can limit the potential damage. Monitoring logs for unusual administrative actions and suspicious referrer headers can help detect attempted exploitation. Finally, organizations should keep WordPress core and all plugins updated to the latest versions to reduce exposure to known vulnerabilities.