CVE-2025-11576: WordPress AI Chatbot CSV Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-11576 Overview

CVE-2025-11576 affects the AI Chatbot Free Models – Customer Support, Live Chat, Virtual Assistant plugin for WordPress. All versions up to and including 1.6.5 are vulnerable to CSV Injection [CWE-1236] through insufficient sanitization in the newcodebyte_chatbot_export_messages function. Unauthenticated attackers can embed untrusted input into exported CSV files. When a site administrator downloads and opens the CSV on a local system with a vulnerable spreadsheet configuration, embedded formulas may execute code in the context of the local user.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can inject spreadsheet formulas into exported CSV files, enabling code execution on administrator workstations that open the exported data.

Affected Products

AI Chatbot Free Models – Customer Support, Live Chat, Virtual Assistant WordPress plugin
All plugin versions up to and including 1.6.5
WordPress installations exporting chatbot message logs to CSV

Discovery Timeline

2025-10-24 - CVE-2025-11576 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-11576

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the newcodebyte_chatbot_export_messages function. This function exports stored chatbot conversation data to a CSV file for administrators. The plugin writes user-supplied chatbot input into CSV cells without neutralizing formula-leading characters such as =, +, -, and @.

Spreadsheet applications including Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc interpret cells beginning with these characters as formulas. Malicious formulas can invoke functions like DDE, HYPERLINK, or WEBSERVICE to exfiltrate data or execute local commands. The attack succeeds only when the recipient opens the file with a spreadsheet application that has not disabled dynamic content or external references.

The issue is tracked under CWE-1236: Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File. Attacker interaction requires no authentication because the chatbot accepts messages from anonymous visitors, but exploitation depends on an administrator downloading and opening the export.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing output sanitization in the export routine. The plugin trusts message content originating from unauthenticated chatbot sessions and writes it verbatim into CSV rows. It does not prepend a safe character such as a single quote or escape formula prefixes before serializing values.

Attack Vector

An unauthenticated attacker submits a chatbot message that begins with a formula prefix, for example =cmd|'/C calc'!A1. The payload is stored in the plugin's message log. When an administrator invokes the export functionality, the malicious message is written into the CSV. Opening the CSV in a vulnerable spreadsheet client triggers formula evaluation and can invoke Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) or hyperlink handlers to run arbitrary commands.

See the Wordfence Vulnerability Report for additional technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-11576

Indicators of Compromise

Chatbot message log entries beginning with =, +, -, @, or tab characters
Exported CSV files containing cells with DDE, HYPERLINK, WEBSERVICE, or IMPORTXML formulas
Outbound network requests from administrator workstations shortly after opening a chatbot CSV export
Child processes spawned by EXCEL.EXE or soffice.bin such as cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or wscript.exe

Detection Strategies

Inspect the plugin's stored messages in the WordPress database for rows whose content starts with formula-trigger characters
Scan generated CSV exports for cells matching the regular expression ^[=+\-@\t\r]
Correlate spreadsheet application launches with subsequent script interpreter or shell process creation on administrator hosts

Monitoring Recommendations

Log all invocations of the newcodebyte_chatbot_export_messages action and the identity of the downloading user
Alert on Office application parent processes spawning command shells, PowerShell, or network utilities
Track chatbot submissions from anonymous sessions that contain spreadsheet formula syntax

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-11576

Immediate Actions Required

Update the AI Chatbot Free Models plugin to a version newer than 1.6.5 that includes the patch referenced in the WordPress Plugin Changeset
Avoid opening any previously exported CSV files from this plugin on administrator workstations until they are sanitized
Purge or sanitize stored chatbot messages that begin with formula-trigger characters

Patch Information

The vendor released a fix in the plugin repository via changeset 3378450. Administrators should upgrade through the WordPress plugin management console. Review the WordPress Plugin Changeset to confirm the fix version deployed to the site matches the patched release.

Workarounds

Disable the chatbot export functionality until the plugin is updated
Configure Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc to disable Dynamic Data Exchange and external content by default
Import chatbot CSV exports into spreadsheets using the text import wizard with all columns set to text format
Preprocess exports with a script that prefixes any cell starting with =, +, -, or @ with a single quote

bash

# Sanitize an exported CSV by neutralizing formula prefixes
awk -F',' 'BEGIN{OFS=","} {
  for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) {
    if ($i ~ /^[=+\-@\t\r]/) { $i = "'\''" $i }
  }
  print
}' chatbot_export.csv > chatbot_export_safe.csv