CVE-2024-12454 identifies a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates plugin for WordPress, maintained by iovamihai. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.1.23. The root cause is the absence or improper implementation of nonce validation on a critical function within the plugin. Nonces in WordPress are security tokens used to verify that requests originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third parties. Without proper nonce validation, an attacker can craft a malicious web request that, when executed by an authenticated site administrator (e.g., by clicking a link), causes the site to perform unintended actions such as modifying affiliate program settings or injecting malicious scripts. This attack vector requires user interaction but no prior authentication, increasing the risk of exploitation. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality and integrity by 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, user interaction required, and a scope change with partial confidentiality and integrity impacts. No public exploits have been reported yet, but the vulnerability is publicly disclosed and should be addressed promptly. The plugin is widely used in WordPress environments for affiliate marketing, making this a relevant threat for many websites relying on this functionality.

The primary impact of CVE-2024-12454 is unauthorized modification of affiliate program settings or injection of malicious content via forged requests executed by site administrators. This can lead to data integrity issues, such as unauthorized changes to affiliate commissions or program configurations, potentially causing financial loss or reputational damage. Confidentiality may be partially compromised if sensitive affiliate data is exposed or manipulated. Although availability is not directly affected, the integrity and confidentiality breaches can disrupt business operations and trust in the affiliate program. Organizations running WordPress sites with this plugin are at risk of targeted attacks that exploit administrator sessions, especially if administrators are tricked into clicking malicious links via phishing or social engineering. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers could develop exploits rapidly given the public disclosure. The vulnerability's medium severity indicates a moderate but actionable risk that requires timely mitigation to prevent exploitation.

To mitigate CVE-2024-12454, organizations should first update the Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates plugin to a version that includes proper nonce validation once released by the vendor. Until an official patch is available, administrators should implement manual nonce checks on the affected functions if feasible or disable the plugin temporarily if it is not critical. Additionally, site administrators should be trained to recognize phishing attempts and avoid clicking on suspicious links, especially when logged into WordPress admin panels. Employing web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules to detect and block CSRF attack patterns can provide an additional layer of defense. Enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrator accounts reduces the risk of session hijacking that could facilitate CSRF exploitation. Regular security audits and monitoring of affiliate program configurations for unauthorized changes can help detect exploitation attempts early. Finally, limiting administrator privileges to only necessary personnel minimizes the attack surface.