CVE-2024-13845 is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability identified in the Gravity Forms WebHooks plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.6.0. The vulnerability exists in the 'process_feed' method of the GF_Webhooks class. SSRF vulnerabilities allow an attacker to make HTTP requests from the vulnerable server to arbitrary locations, potentially including internal or otherwise inaccessible network resources. In this case, exploitation requires the attacker to have authenticated access with Administrator-level privileges or higher within the WordPress environment. Once exploited, the attacker can leverage the web application to send crafted requests to internal services, which may lead to unauthorized information disclosure or modification of internal data. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (medium severity), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), high privileges required (PR:H), no user interaction needed (UI:N), scope changed (S:C), and low impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:L, I:L), with no impact on availability (A:N). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-918, which covers SSRF issues that can lead to unauthorized internal network access or data manipulation via server-side requests. Given the requirement for high privileges, the attack surface is limited to administrators or equivalent roles within the WordPress installation. However, the potential for internal network reconnaissance or manipulation of internal services makes this a significant concern for organizations relying on Gravity Forms WebHooks in their WordPress deployments.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability depends largely on the extent to which Gravity Forms WebHooks is used within their WordPress environments, especially in administrative contexts. Organizations using this plugin with administrator-level users exposed to potential compromise risk internal network resources, including intranet services, databases, or other internal APIs that could be queried or manipulated via SSRF. This could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive internal information or unauthorized changes to internal systems, potentially violating data protection regulations such as GDPR. While the vulnerability does not directly impact availability, the integrity and confidentiality risks could facilitate further attacks or data breaches. Sectors with high reliance on WordPress for public-facing or internal portals—such as government agencies, financial institutions, healthcare providers, and large enterprises—may face elevated risks. The requirement for administrator access reduces the likelihood of remote exploitation by external attackers without prior compromise, but insider threats or phishing attacks leading to credential compromise could enable exploitation. The SSRF could also be leveraged as a pivot point for lateral movement within internal networks, increasing the overall risk posture.

1. Immediate mitigation should include restricting administrator access to trusted personnel and enforcing strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 2. Monitor and audit administrator activities and webhooks configurations for suspicious or unauthorized changes. 3. Implement network segmentation and firewall rules to limit the WordPress server's ability to make outbound requests to internal services that are not necessary for business operations, effectively reducing the SSRF attack surface. 4. Use web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block unusual outbound requests originating from the WordPress server. 5. Until an official patch is released, consider disabling the Gravity Forms WebHooks plugin if it is not essential or restrict its usage to environments with minimal exposure. 6. Regularly review and update WordPress and plugin versions, and subscribe to vendor security advisories to apply patches promptly once available. 7. Conduct internal penetration testing focusing on SSRF and privilege escalation scenarios to identify and remediate related weaknesses. 8. Employ logging and alerting on outbound HTTP requests from the WordPress server to detect potential exploitation attempts.