CVE-2023-32501
📋 TL;DR
This CSRF vulnerability in VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS plugin allows attackers to trick authenticated WordPress administrators into performing unintended actions. Attackers can create malicious requests that execute when an admin visits a compromised page, potentially modifying booking data or plugin settings. All WordPress sites using VikBooking plugin version 1.6.1 or earlier are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- E4J s.R.L. VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS WordPress plugin
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of hotel booking system including unauthorized booking modifications, rate changes, reservation cancellations, or plugin configuration changes leading to business disruption.
Likely Case
Unauthorized changes to booking data, rate manipulation, or plugin settings modification requiring manual cleanup and verification.
If Mitigated
No impact if proper CSRF protections are implemented and users follow security best practices.
🎯 Exploit Status
CSRF attacks require social engineering to trick authenticated users into visiting malicious pages.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.6.2 or later
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find VikBooking plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. Alternatively, download latest version from WordPress repository and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Tokens
allAdd CSRF protection tokens to all VikBooking admin forms
Restrict Admin Access
allLimit WordPress admin access to trusted IP addresses only
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall with CSRF protection rules
- Educate administrators about CSRF risks and safe browsing practices
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins > VikBooking version numberCheck Version:
wp plugin list --name=vikbooking --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify VikBooking plugin version is 1.6.2 or higher in WordPress admin📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple admin actions from same session in rapid succession
- Unexpected booking modifications or settings changes
Network Indicators:
- POST requests to VikBooking admin endpoints without referrer headers or CSRF tokens
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "vikbooking" AND ("admin" OR "booking") AND status=200 AND method=POST🔗 References
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/vikbooking/wordpress-vikbooking-hotel-booking-engine-pms-plugin-1-6-1-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf-vulnerability?_s_id=cve
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/vikbooking/wordpress-vikbooking-hotel-booking-engine-pms-plugin-1-6-1-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf-vulnerability?_s_id=cve
