CVE-2024-3610 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) found in the WP Child Theme Generator plugin for WordPress, developed by wen-solutions. The vulnerability exists in the wctg_easy_child_theme() function, which lacks proper capability checks to verify if the requester is authorized to perform child theme creation and activation. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to invoke this function remotely, creating a blank child theme and activating it on the target WordPress site. Activation of the blank child theme causes the site to display a white screen (commonly known as the 'white screen of death'), effectively causing a denial of service by rendering the site inaccessible to legitimate users. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.1.1 of the plugin. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3, indicating a medium severity level, with an attack vector of network (remote), low attack complexity, no privileges required, and no user interaction needed. The impact is limited to availability disruption; confidentiality and integrity are not affected. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no official patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed on June 21, 2024, and assigned by Wordfence. Given the plugin's role in theme management, exploitation can disrupt website operations, potentially affecting site administrators and visitors.

The primary impact of CVE-2024-3610 is denial of service through site unavailability caused by the activation of a blank child theme, which results in a white screen on the affected WordPress site. This can disrupt business operations, user access, and online services hosted on the compromised site. While the vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or allow data modification, the loss of availability can damage reputation, reduce customer trust, and lead to financial losses, especially for e-commerce or service-oriented websites. Since exploitation requires no authentication or user interaction, any attacker with network access to the WordPress site can trigger the issue, increasing the risk of automated attacks or mass exploitation attempts. Organizations relying on the WP Child Theme Generator plugin are at risk of sudden outages, which may require emergency response and recovery efforts. The absence of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the potential for future attacks.

To mitigate CVE-2024-3610, organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately check for updates or patches from the plugin vendor wen-solutions and apply them as soon as they become available. 2) If no patch is available, temporarily disable or uninstall the WP Child Theme Generator plugin to prevent exploitation. 3) Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthorized requests targeting the wctg_easy_child_theme() function or related endpoints, restricting access to trusted IP addresses or authenticated users only. 4) Monitor web server and WordPress logs for suspicious requests attempting to invoke child theme creation functions. 5) Restrict file system permissions to prevent unauthorized theme modifications. 6) Educate site administrators about the vulnerability and encourage regular plugin audits to identify and remediate similar authorization issues. 7) Consider deploying intrusion detection systems (IDS) to detect anomalous activities related to theme management. These targeted mitigations go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, monitoring, and plugin management specific to this vulnerability.