CVE-2024-22290: Custom Dashboard Widgets CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-22290 Overview

CVE-2024-22290 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Custom Dashboard Widgets plugin for WordPress, developed by AboZain, O7abeeb, and UnitOne. The flaw allows an attacker to chain CSRF with Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), enabling script injection through forged requests. The issue affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.3.1. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-352 and requires user interaction, typically tricking an authenticated administrator into visiting a malicious page.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation permits attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of an authenticated WordPress administrator, leading to session hijacking, account takeover, or persistent site compromise.

Affected Products

Custom Dashboard Widgets plugin for WordPress, versions up to and including 1.3.1
WordPress installations with the vulnerable plugin activated
Sites running the custom_dashboard_widgets_project plugin distribution

Discovery Timeline

2024-01-31 - CVE-2024-22290 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-22290

Vulnerability Analysis

The Custom Dashboard Widgets plugin fails to validate the origin of state-changing HTTP requests. Endpoints responsible for creating or modifying dashboard widgets do not require or verify a valid WordPress nonce. This omission allows an external site to submit crafted requests on behalf of an authenticated user. Because the same handlers do not sanitize widget content prior to storage or rendering, injected payloads persist as stored JavaScript.

The combination of missing CSRF protection and inadequate output encoding produces a CSRF-to-XSS chain. An attacker only needs an administrator to load an attacker-controlled page while authenticated to the target WordPress site. Impact spans confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the WordPress instance.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of anti-CSRF tokens on widget management actions, compounded by improper neutralization of user-supplied input rendered in the WordPress admin dashboard. The plugin trusts session cookies alone to authorize modifications, violating the double-submit or nonce-verification pattern documented in WordPress plugin development guidance.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs over the network and requires user interaction. An attacker hosts a malicious HTML page containing an auto-submitting form or fetch request targeting the plugin's widget endpoint. When an authenticated administrator visits the page, the browser attaches session cookies to the forged request. The plugin accepts the request and stores the attacker-supplied payload, which then executes as JavaScript when any administrator views the dashboard. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Analysis for technical specifics.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-22290

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script> tags or event handler attributes stored in WordPress dashboard widget content within the wp_options or plugin-specific database tables
Administrator sessions initiating outbound requests to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading /wp-admin/
New administrator accounts or role changes without corresponding audit-log entries from a legitimate admin session
Referer headers on widget modification requests pointing to external, non-WordPress origins

Detection Strategies

Inspect the plugin's stored widget content for HTML or JavaScript that should not appear in normal dashboard text
Enable and review WordPress activity logging plugins to detect widget changes performed without an active admin browser session on wp-admin
Correlate web server access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints where the Referer header does not match the site's own domain

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on modifications to plugin-managed options and post meta where the payload contains script tags, javascript: URIs, or onerror/onload attributes
Monitor administrator browser telemetry for anomalous cross-origin form submissions to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints
Track plugin version inventories to identify WordPress hosts still running Custom Dashboard Widgets 1.3.1 or earlier

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-22290

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate and remove the Custom Dashboard Widgets plugin until a patched release is available and verified
Audit existing dashboard widgets for injected scripts and remove any suspicious content from the database
Force password resets and invalidate active sessions for all WordPress administrator accounts
Restrict administrator access to a dedicated browser profile that does not visit untrusted sites while authenticated

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no fixed version beyond 1.3.1 is listed in the referenced advisory. Consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Analysis for the latest remediation status and any vendor-supplied updates.

Workarounds

Remove the plugin entirely if a patched version is not yet available
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that requires a valid WordPress nonce or same-origin Referer header on requests to the plugin's endpoints
Apply the Content-Security-Policy header to restrict inline script execution in the WordPress admin area
Enforce two-factor authentication for administrator accounts to reduce the value of a hijacked session

bash

# Example Apache configuration to block cross-origin POSTs to wp-admin
<LocationMatch "^/wp-admin/">
    SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "^https://your-wordpress-domain\.com/" local_ref
    <LimitExcept GET HEAD>
        Require env local_ref
    </LimitExcept>
</LocationMatch>