CVE-2024-54357: ThemeFusion Avada CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-54357 Overview

CVE-2024-54357 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the ThemeFusion Avada theme for WordPress. The issue impacts all Avada versions up to and including 7.11.10. An attacker can craft a malicious web page or link that, when visited by an authenticated Avada user, triggers unintended state-changing actions in the WordPress backend. Exploitation requires user interaction, but no privileges or authentication material from the attacker. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to induce authenticated Avada users to perform unauthorized actions on a WordPress site, potentially altering theme configuration or site content.

Affected Products

ThemeFusion Avada theme for WordPress, versions up to and including 7.11.10
WordPress installations with the Avada theme active
Sites where administrators or privileged users interact with untrusted content while authenticated

Discovery Timeline

2024-12-16 - CVE-2024-54357 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-54357

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from missing or insufficient anti-CSRF protections in one or more state-changing endpoints exposed by the Avada theme. WordPress themes typically enforce CSRF protection through nonces validated with check_admin_referer() or wp_verify_nonce(). When these checks are missing or improperly scoped, an attacker-controlled page can submit forged requests to the vulnerable endpoint using the victim's active session. Because the browser automatically attaches session cookies, the WordPress backend processes the request as if the user initiated it.

The attack impacts integrity but does not directly expose confidential data or degrade availability. Successful exploitation depends on the victim being authenticated to the target WordPress site at the time of interaction.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper implementation of anti-CSRF controls [CWE-352] on one or more Avada request handlers. The endpoint accepts and processes requests without verifying that they originated from a legitimate user-initiated action within the WordPress admin interface.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires user interaction. An attacker hosts a malicious page containing a hidden form or JavaScript that submits a crafted request to the target WordPress site. When an authenticated Avada user visits the page, the browser sends the request with session cookies attached, and the vulnerable Avada handler executes the requested action. See the Patchstack advisory for the Avada CSRF vulnerability for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-54357

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected changes to Avada theme options, layouts, or Fusion Builder configurations without a corresponding administrator action in audit logs.
Requests to Avada or Fusion admin-ajax endpoints originating from external Referer headers rather than the WordPress admin domain.
New or modified posts, pages, or theme templates appearing shortly after an administrator visited an external link.

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for POST requests to Avada or wp-admin/admin-ajax.php endpoints with missing, malformed, or absent _wpnonce parameters.
Correlate WordPress user session activity with browser referrer data to flag state-changing requests initiated from third-party origins.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set that inspects the Referer and Origin headers on Avada administrative endpoints.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable a WordPress audit-logging plugin to record theme option modifications and administrator actions with timestamps and source IPs.
Monitor for spikes in outbound requests from browser sessions to WordPress admin URLs following external navigation events.
Alert on any change to the installed Avada theme version and confirm each upgrade against a maintenance change ticket.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-54357

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade the Avada theme to a version later than 7.11.10 as published by ThemeFusion.
Restrict WordPress administrator accounts to dedicated browsers or profiles that do not browse untrusted content.
Enforce multi-factor authentication for all WordPress users with edit_theme_options or higher capabilities.

Patch Information

Refer to the Patchstack advisory for the Avada CSRF vulnerability for the fixed release information. Apply the vendor update through the WordPress theme updater or ThemeFusion registration portal, then verify the installed version in wp-admin under Appearance > Themes.

Workarounds

Deploy a WAF policy that blocks state-changing requests to Avada endpoints when the Referer or Origin header does not match the site's own domain.
Limit administrative sessions using short cookie lifetimes and logout-on-close settings until the theme is patched.
Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by source IP address where operational requirements allow.

bash

# Example NGINX rule to reject cross-origin POSTs to admin-ajax.php
location = /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php {
    if ($request_method = POST) {
        set $csrf_block "0";
        if ($http_origin !~* "^https?://(www\.)?example\.com$") {
            set $csrf_block "1";
        }
        if ($csrf_block = "1") {
            return 403;
        }
    }
}