CVE-2024-9351 is a medium-severity CSRF vulnerability identified in the Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder WordPress plugin, versions up to and including 1.35.1. The vulnerability stems from missing or incorrect nonce validation in the 'create_module' function used for creating quizzes. Nonces in WordPress are security tokens designed to protect against CSRF attacks by ensuring that requests originate from legitimate users. The absence or improper implementation of nonce checks allows an attacker to craft a malicious request that, when executed by an authenticated site administrator (e.g., by clicking a link), results in the creation of unauthorized draft quizzes. This attack vector does not require the attacker to be authenticated but does require user interaction from a privileged user. The impact is limited to integrity, as attackers can inject content but cannot directly compromise confidentiality or availability. The vulnerability is network exploitable (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), but does require user interaction (UI:R). The scope is unchanged (S:U), and the impact is limited to integrity (I:L) with no confidentiality or availability impact. No patches have been linked yet, and no known exploits are reported in the wild, but the risk remains for sites with unpatched versions. The plugin is widely used in WordPress environments for form and quiz creation, making this a relevant threat for many websites globally.

The primary impact of CVE-2024-9351 is on the integrity of WordPress sites using the vulnerable Forminator Forms plugin. Attackers can create unauthorized draft quizzes, which could be used to inject misleading or malicious content, potentially damaging the site's reputation or misleading users. While the vulnerability does not directly expose sensitive data or cause denial of service, unauthorized content creation could facilitate further social engineering or phishing attacks. Since exploitation requires tricking an administrator into clicking a link, the risk is higher in environments where administrators frequently interact with untrusted content or emails. Organizations relying on this plugin for critical form or quiz functionality may face operational disruptions or reputational harm if exploited. The vulnerability's medium severity and ease of exploitation without authentication make it a notable risk for WordPress sites worldwide, especially those with less stringent user security awareness or lacking multi-factor authentication for admin accounts.

To mitigate CVE-2024-9351, organizations should immediately update the Forminator Forms plugin to a patched version once available. In the absence of an official patch, administrators can implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Restrict administrative access to trusted networks or VPNs to reduce exposure to malicious CSRF attempts. 2) Enforce strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts and reduce the risk of CSRF payload delivery. 3) Educate administrators on the risks of clicking untrusted links, especially while logged into WordPress admin panels. 4) Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all administrative accounts to reduce the risk of session hijacking or unauthorized access. 5) Use security plugins that provide additional CSRF protections or monitor for unusual content creation activities. 6) Regularly audit and monitor WordPress logs for unexpected quiz creation or other suspicious administrative actions. 7) Temporarily disable or restrict the quiz creation functionality if it is not essential until a patch is applied. These targeted steps go beyond generic advice and focus on reducing the attack surface and improving detection capabilities.