CVE-2024-9634 is a critical deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) found in the GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 3.16.3. The vulnerability arises from unsafe deserialization of untrusted data passed through the give_company_name parameter. This parameter is processed without adequate validation or sanitization, allowing attackers to inject crafted PHP objects. Due to the presence of a Property Oriented Programming (POP) chain within the plugin's codebase, attackers can leverage this injection to execute arbitrary PHP code remotely. The exploit requires no authentication or user interaction, making it trivially exploitable over the network. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability by enabling full remote code execution (RCE), potentially allowing attackers to take over affected WordPress sites, steal sensitive data, modify content, or disrupt services. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 9.8, reflecting the critical nature of this flaw. Although no public exploits have been reported yet, the vulnerability's characteristics and the plugin's popularity in the WordPress ecosystem make it a high-risk issue. The lack of available patches at the time of disclosure further increases exposure. The vulnerability highlights the dangers of insecure deserialization in PHP applications, especially in widely deployed plugins that handle user input without strict validation.

The impact of CVE-2024-9634 is severe for organizations using the GiveWP plugin. Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on the web server hosting the WordPress site. This can lead to full site compromise, including unauthorized access to sensitive donor and fundraising data, defacement, insertion of malicious content, or use of the compromised server as a pivot point for further attacks within the organization's network. Given the plugin's role in handling donations and fundraising, breaches could result in financial fraud, loss of donor trust, and regulatory penalties related to data protection laws. The vulnerability also threatens availability, as attackers could disrupt donation processing or take down the website entirely. Since the exploit requires no authentication or user interaction, the attack surface is broad, increasing the likelihood of automated exploitation attempts. Organizations relying on GiveWP for critical fundraising activities face operational and reputational risks until the vulnerability is remediated.

To mitigate CVE-2024-9634, organizations should immediately upgrade the GiveWP plugin to a patched version once available. Until a patch is released, apply the following specific mitigations: 1) Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block or sanitize requests containing the give_company_name parameter, especially those with suspicious serialized PHP objects. 2) Disable or restrict the use of the vulnerable plugin on publicly accessible sites if possible. 3) Employ input validation and sanitization at the web server or application level to prevent deserialization of untrusted data. 4) Monitor web server logs and WordPress activity logs for anomalous requests or signs of exploitation attempts targeting the give_company_name parameter. 5) Restrict file system and PHP execution permissions for the WordPress installation to limit the impact of potential code execution. 6) Conduct regular backups of the website and database to enable recovery in case of compromise. 7) Educate site administrators about the risks of installing untrusted plugins and the importance of timely updates. These targeted actions will reduce the risk of exploitation while awaiting official fixes.