dbcve.org
AvadaWordPress extension · Theme Fusion

CVE-2022-41996

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.8.1 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in ThemeFusion Avada premium theme versions <= 7.8.1 on WordPress leading to arbitrary plugin installation/activation.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in ThemeFusion Avada premium theme versions 7.8.1 and earlier allows authenticated administrators to be tricked into unknowingly installing or activating arbitrary plugins on WordPress sites. The affected theme lacks proper CSRF protection (nonce verification) on plugin management functions, enabling attackers to craft malicious links or forms that execute unauthorized plugin operations.

MitigationUpdate ThemeFusion Avada theme to a version beyond 7.8.1 which includes CSRF protection. Site administrators should also implement additional safeguards such as requiring re-authentication for plugin management actions and educating admin users about CSRF attack vectors.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AvadaWordPress extension
Affected:<= 7.8.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Avada theme is installed
    Locate the Avada theme directory in your WordPress installation at wp-content/themes/Avada and confirm it exists
    Affected if Avada theme files are present in the themes directory
  2. Check the installed Avada version
    Open the style.css file within the Avada theme directory and locate the 'Version:' header in the file comments, or check version.php if present
    Affected if The version listed is 7.8.1 or earlier
  3. Confirm admin access to plugin management
    Log in as an administrator and navigate to Avada > Plugin Installer in the WordPress admin dashboard to confirm plugin installation/activation features are available
    Affected if The Avada plugin installer interface is accessible to admin users
  4. Inspect CSRF protection on plugin actions
    Examine the PHP files handling plugin installation/activation in the Avada theme (typically in includes or admin directories) for nonce verification using wp_verify_nonce or check_admin_referer
    Affected if The plugin management code lacks nonce verification before performing plugin operations

You are affected if the Avada theme version is 7.8.1 or earlier AND the plugin management functions are accessible without CSRF token validation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.8.1
Interim mitigation

Update ThemeFusion Avada theme to a version beyond 7.8.1 which includes CSRF protection. Site administrators should also implement additional safeguards such as requiring re-authentication for plugin management actions and educating admin users about CSRF attack vectors.

Recommended fix High confidence

Avada 7.8.2 or later (latest stable release)

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Appearance > Themes
  3. 3. If using Avada theme <= 7.8.1, deactivate the current Avada theme temporarily
  4. 4. Install and activate a newer version of the Avada theme (7.8.2 or later)
  5. 5. Alternatively, update Avada via WordPress admin: Dashboard > Updates or navigate to Avada > Theme Options > Theme Updates
  6. 6. After updating, verify the theme version shows 7.8.2 or higher
  7. 7. Test that plugin installation/activation functionality works normally without CSRF vulnerabilities
Caveat Review Avada changelog for version 7.8.2 to check for any settings or feature changes that may require reconfiguration

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Avada Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-41996 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data