CVE-2024-20718: Adobe Commerce CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-20718 Overview

Adobe Commerce contains a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability [CWE-352] that enables a security feature bypass. The flaw affects Adobe Commerce versions 2.4.6-p3, 2.4.5-p5, 2.4.4-p6, and earlier releases. An attacker can trick an authenticated victim into submitting an unintended request that bypasses security controls and grants unauthorized access. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically the victim clicking a crafted link or visiting an attacker-controlled page. Adobe published the vulnerability on February 15, 2024, alongside advisory APSB24-03.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to bypass security features and perform unauthorized state-changing actions in the context of an authenticated Adobe Commerce user.

Affected Products

Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 through 2.4.4-p6
Adobe Commerce 2.4.5 through 2.4.5-p5
Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 through 2.4.6-p3

Discovery Timeline

2024-02-15 - CVE-2024-20718 published to NVD
2024-02-15 - Adobe releases security advisory APSB24-03
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-20718

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a Cross-Site Request Forgery weakness classified under [CWE-352]. Adobe Commerce fails to adequately validate the origin or authenticity of state-changing HTTP requests in an affected code path. An attacker who convinces an authenticated user to load malicious content can cause the browser to issue authenticated requests to the Commerce application. Because the affected endpoint does not enforce anti-CSRF controls, those requests execute with the victim's privileges. This behavior enables a security feature bypass with high integrity impact, though confidentiality and availability are not affected according to the published CVSS vector.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient CSRF protection on an authenticated request handler within Adobe Commerce. Effective mitigations for [CWE-352] rely on unpredictable per-session tokens, SameSite cookie enforcement, and origin or referrer validation. When any of these controls is absent or improperly validated, a same-site or cross-origin request from an attacker page reaches the server with valid session cookies. The server processes the request as if it were user-initiated, which enables the integrity impact reported for this CVE.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is network based and requires user interaction. An attacker crafts a malicious page or link that issues an HTTP request to an affected Adobe Commerce endpoint. When a user authenticated to the target Commerce instance visits the attacker page, the browser attaches session cookies and submits the forged request. The server executes the requested action, bypassing intended security checks. No prior privileges are required by the attacker, and the attack complexity is low.

No verified public proof-of-concept has been published for this issue. Refer to the Adobe Magento Security Advisory APSB24-03 for vendor-provided technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-20718

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected administrative or configuration changes in Adobe Commerce audit logs correlated with recent user browsing activity.
HTTP requests to sensitive Commerce endpoints originating with a Referer or Origin header pointing to unrelated third-party domains.
Session activity patterns showing state-changing POST requests immediately following external navigation events.

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for POST or state-changing requests to Commerce admin endpoints that lack expected anti-CSRF token parameters.
Correlate authenticated Commerce sessions with cross-origin referrers to identify potential CSRF submissions.
Deploy web application firewall rules that validate Origin and Referer headers on sensitive Commerce routes.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable and forward Adobe Commerce admin action logs to a centralized SIEM for retention and correlation.
Alert on privileged configuration changes that occur outside of change-management windows.
Monitor authentication and session events for anomalies that follow user visits to untrusted external sites.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-20718

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Adobe Commerce to a patched release listed in advisory APSB24-03 (2.4.6-p4, 2.4.5-p6, 2.4.4-p7, or later applicable version).
Audit administrator and privileged user accounts for unexpected configuration changes made prior to patching.
Instruct administrators to log out of Adobe Commerce sessions before browsing unrelated web content until patches are applied.

Patch Information

Adobe addressed CVE-2024-20718 in the security update documented in Adobe Magento Security Advisory APSB24-03. Administrators should apply the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to a fixed version. Validate patch installation by confirming the deployed Commerce build reports a version newer than 2.4.6-p3, 2.4.5-p5, or 2.4.4-p6 for the respective branch.

Workarounds

Enforce strict SameSite=Lax or SameSite=Strict cookie attributes on Adobe Commerce session cookies at the reverse proxy layer.
Deploy WAF rules that reject state-changing requests to Commerce admin paths when the Origin or Referer header does not match the Commerce hostname.
Restrict administrative access to trusted networks or via VPN to reduce cross-origin exposure.

bash

# Example NGINX reverse proxy rule to block cross-origin POSTs to admin paths
location ~ ^/admin/ {
    if ($request_method = POST) {
        set $csrf_block "1";
    }
    if ($http_origin ~* ^https://commerce\.example\.com$) {
        set $csrf_block "0";
    }
    if ($csrf_block = "1") {
        return 403;
    }
    proxy_pass http://commerce_backend;
}