CVE-2024-24884 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the ARI Soft Contact Form 7 Connector plugin, affecting versions up to and including 1.2.2. This plugin integrates with the widely used WordPress Contact Form 7 plugin to extend its functionality, typically enabling enhanced form management or connectivity features. The vulnerability arises because the plugin does not adequately verify the authenticity of requests made to it, allowing an attacker to craft malicious web requests that, when executed by an authenticated user’s browser, can perform unauthorized actions on their behalf without their consent. CSRF attacks exploit the trust a web application places in the user's browser, leveraging the user's active session to perform state-changing operations. In this case, the attacker could potentially manipulate form submissions or alter configurations related to the Contact Form 7 Connector. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the vulnerability's presence in a plugin used by many WordPress sites poses a risk, especially since Contact Form 7 is one of the most popular form plugins globally. The lack of a patch link suggests that a fix may not yet be publicly available, increasing the urgency for users to apply mitigations or monitor for updates. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, which specifically addresses CSRF issues where state-changing requests lack proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms. Given the plugin’s role in handling form data, exploitation could lead to unauthorized data submission, configuration changes, or other unintended actions that compromise the integrity of the affected web application.

For European organizations, the impact of this CSRF vulnerability could range from moderate to significant depending on the deployment context. Organizations using WordPress with the ARI Soft Contact Form 7 Connector may face unauthorized manipulation of web forms, potentially leading to data integrity issues, unauthorized data submission, or disruption of normal form operations. This could affect customer communications, lead generation, or internal workflows relying on form data. While the vulnerability does not directly expose sensitive data or allow remote code execution, the unauthorized actions performed could be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain, such as injecting malicious data or disrupting service availability. For sectors with strict data protection regulations like GDPR, unauthorized form submissions or data manipulation could result in compliance violations and reputational damage. Additionally, if the forms are used for critical business processes or customer interactions, the integrity and availability of these services could be compromised, impacting business continuity and trust. The absence of known active exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the potential for targeted attacks, especially against high-value European targets such as government agencies, financial institutions, or large enterprises relying on WordPress-based websites.

1. Immediate mitigation should include disabling or removing the ARI Soft Contact Form 7 Connector plugin until a security patch is released. 2. Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious CSRF-like requests targeting the plugin’s endpoints. 3. Encourage users to log out of administrative or authenticated sessions when not in use to reduce the window of opportunity for CSRF attacks. 4. Monitor web server and application logs for unusual POST requests or form submissions that could indicate exploitation attempts. 5. Apply strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the ability of malicious sites to execute cross-origin requests. 6. Educate site administrators about the risks of CSRF and the importance of validating all state-changing requests with anti-CSRF tokens or nonce values. 7. Once available, promptly apply official patches or updates from ARI Soft addressing this vulnerability. 8. Conduct regular security audits of WordPress plugins and their configurations to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities proactively. 9. Consider implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative access to reduce the risk of session hijacking that could facilitate CSRF exploitation.