CVE-2024-51658: WP Course Manager CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-51658 Overview

CVE-2024-51658 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Henrik Hoff WP Course Manager WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of wp-course-manager up to and including version 1.3. Successful exploitation allows an unauthenticated attacker to trigger a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) payload by tricking an authenticated administrator into visiting a crafted page. The injected script persists in plugin data and executes in the context of any user viewing the affected page. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
An attacker can plant persistent JavaScript in a WordPress site by abusing an administrator's authenticated session, leading to account takeover, content tampering, and visitor-side compromise.

Affected Products

Henrik Hoff WP Course Manager plugin for WordPress
wp-course-manager versions through 1.3
WordPress sites with the plugin installed and an authenticated administrator session

Discovery Timeline

2024-11-14 - CVE-2024-51658 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-51658

Vulnerability Analysis

The wp-course-manager plugin exposes state-changing administrative actions without validating an anti-CSRF token. When an authenticated administrator visits an attacker-controlled page, the browser issues an authenticated request to the WordPress admin endpoint exposed by the plugin. Because the plugin does not verify a WordPress nonce or referrer, the request is accepted and processed as legitimate.

The submitted parameters are stored in the plugin's data tables or options and rendered later without proper output encoding. This converts the CSRF into a Stored XSS, allowing attacker-controlled JavaScript to execute in the browsers of administrators and site visitors. The attack requires user interaction from a privileged user but no prior authentication on the attacker's side.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing CSRF protection on plugin form handlers, compounded by insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field(), check_admin_referer(), and wp_verify_nonce() for CSRF defense, along with sanitize_text_field() and esc_html() for input and output handling. The vulnerable code paths in wp-course-manager through version 1.3 do not consistently apply these protections.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires the attacker to host a malicious page containing an auto-submitting HTML form or a forged XMLHttpRequest targeting the plugin's admin endpoint. The attacker must lure an authenticated WordPress administrator to visit the page. Once visited, the browser submits the forged request using the administrator's session cookies, causing the malicious payload to be stored. The XSS payload then executes whenever the affected page is rendered. See the PatchStack Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-51658

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script>, <iframe>, or event-handler attributes stored in WP Course Manager database records or options
WordPress administrator activity logs showing plugin updates originating from external Referer headers
Outbound browser requests from administrator sessions to unfamiliar domains after viewing course manager pages
New or modified administrator accounts created shortly after a course manager page was loaded

Detection Strategies

Inspect the wp_options table and any wp_course_manager_* tables for HTML or JavaScript content in fields expected to contain plain text
Review web server access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints lacking a same-origin Referer header
Monitor WordPress activity logs for plugin configuration changes that do not correspond to scheduled administrator work

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable a WordPress security plugin or Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set that flags requests missing a valid _wpnonce parameter
Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) headers with script-src 'self' to limit execution of injected inline scripts
Forward WordPress and web server logs to a SIEM and alert on stored content containing script tags or on* event handlers

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-51658

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate the wp-course-manager plugin until a fixed version is confirmed available from the vendor
Audit plugin-stored data for injected HTML or JavaScript and remove any malicious entries
Force a password reset for all WordPress administrator accounts and invalidate active sessions
Review recent administrator actions for unauthorized changes introduced through forged requests

Patch Information

At the time of NVD publication, no patched version above 1.3 is referenced in the advisory. Monitor the PatchStack advisory and the WordPress plugin repository for vendor updates. Apply the fixed release immediately when published.

Workarounds

Remove or disable the WP Course Manager plugin on production sites until a patch is available
Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by IP allowlist using web server configuration
Deploy a WAF rule that blocks cross-origin POST requests to WordPress admin endpoints lacking a valid nonce
Require administrators to use isolated browser profiles that do not share cookies with general browsing sessions

bash

# Example Apache configuration to restrict wp-admin to a trusted IP range
<Directory "/var/www/html/wp-admin">
    Require ip 203.0.113.0/24
</Directory>

# Example nginx rule to block cross-origin POSTs to admin-ajax.php
location = /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php {
    if ($http_referer !~* ^https?://example\.com) {
        return 403;
    }
}