CVE-2024-27948: Bytesforall Atahualpa CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-27948 Overview

CVE-2024-27948 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability [CWE-352] affecting the bytesforall Atahualpa WordPress theme. The flaw impacts all versions up to and including 3.7.24. An attacker can craft a malicious request that, when triggered by an authenticated administrator visiting an attacker-controlled page, performs state-changing actions on the WordPress site without consent. Successful exploitation can compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected WordPress instance.

Critical Impact
A successful CSRF attack against an authenticated administrator can lead to unauthorized configuration changes in the Atahualpa theme, potentially enabling further site compromise.

Affected Products

bytesforall Atahualpa WordPress theme versions up to and including 3.7.24
WordPress sites running the vulnerable Atahualpa theme
Administrator sessions authenticated to vulnerable WordPress installations

Discovery Timeline

2024-02-28 - CVE-2024-27948 published to NVD
2026-04-28 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-27948

Vulnerability Analysis

The Atahualpa theme exposes sensitive state-changing endpoints without adequate anti-CSRF protections. The theme fails to validate that requests modifying its configuration originate from a legitimate, intended user action within the WordPress administration interface. An attacker exploits this by hosting a malicious page that issues forged HTTP requests to the target WordPress site. When an authenticated administrator visits the malicious page, the browser automatically attaches valid session cookies. The target site processes the forged request as if the administrator had submitted it intentionally.

The vulnerability requires user interaction, since the victim must visit an attacker-controlled resource while authenticated. The attack is conducted over the network and does not require the attacker to hold any privileges on the target system. Impact extends to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the WordPress site.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient validation of WordPress nonces (anti-CSRF tokens) on sensitive Atahualpa theme actions. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() to mitigate CSRF, but the affected theme code paths do not consistently enforce these checks. The absence of origin validation allows cross-origin requests to invoke privileged operations using the victim's session.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an attacker to lure an authenticated administrator to a malicious page or link. The page contains an auto-submitting HTML form or JavaScript that issues a POST request to a vulnerable Atahualpa endpoint within /wp-admin/. Because the browser automatically attaches the administrator's session cookies, the forged request executes with administrative authority. No credentials need to be known by the attacker. See the Patchstack CSRF Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-27948

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to Atahualpa theme options or configuration files without corresponding administrator activity in the audit log
HTTP Referer headers on /wp-admin/ POST requests pointing to external, untrusted domains
Anomalous theme settings changes occurring shortly after an administrator browsed external sites

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for POST requests to Atahualpa administration endpoints that lack a same-origin Referer or Origin header
Correlate WordPress administrator session activity with external referrers to identify cross-origin submissions
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that flags WordPress admin POST requests missing valid nonce parameters

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging to track theme configuration changes, including user, timestamp, and source IP
Monitor file integrity on theme directories such as wp-content/themes/atahualpa/ for unauthorized modifications
Alert on administrator account activity originating from unusual geolocations or user agents

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-27948

Immediate Actions Required

Inventory all WordPress sites and identify any using the Atahualpa theme at version 3.7.24 or earlier
Restrict administrative access to WordPress using IP allow-listing or VPN to reduce CSRF exposure
Require administrators to log out of WordPress sessions when not actively managing the site

Patch Information

No vendor patch is referenced in the available advisory data. Refer to the Patchstack CSRF Vulnerability Report for the latest remediation guidance. Consider replacing the Atahualpa theme with an actively maintained alternative if a fixed version is not available.

Workarounds

Deploy a WAF policy enforcing Origin and Referer header validation on all /wp-admin/ POST requests
Use browser session isolation, ensuring administrators do not browse untrusted sites while logged into WordPress
Disable or remove the Atahualpa theme on sites where it is not strictly required

bash

# Example: WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block cross-origin POSTs to wp-admin
SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "@streq POST" \
  "id:1009001,phase:1,deny,status:403,\
   chain,msg:'Cross-origin POST to wp-admin blocked'"
  SecRule REQUEST_URI "@beginsWith /wp-admin/" \
    "chain"
    SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@beginsWith https://your-site.example/" \
      "t:none"