CVE-2025-22582: Uptime Robot CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-22582 Overview

CVE-2025-22582 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Scott Nelle Uptime Robot WordPress plugin that enables Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. The flaw affects all versions of the uptime-robot plugin up to and including 0.1.3. An attacker can craft a malicious request that, when triggered by an authenticated administrator, injects persistent JavaScript into plugin-managed content. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352 and carries an EPSS score of 0.136%.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation allows attackers to store malicious scripts in the WordPress site, leading to session theft, administrative account compromise, and potential full site takeover when administrators view affected pages.

Affected Products

• Scott Nelle Uptime Robot WordPress plugin (uptime-robot)
• All versions from initial release through 0.1.3
• WordPress installations using the affected plugin

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-07 - CVE-2025-22582 published to NVD
• 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-22582

Vulnerability Analysis

The Uptime Robot plugin fails to validate the origin of state-changing HTTP requests. The plugin does not implement WordPress nonce verification or equivalent anti-CSRF tokens on endpoints that accept user-controlled input. This omission allows an attacker to forge requests that submit attacker-controlled payloads on behalf of an authenticated user.

The forged requests reach handlers that persist input into the WordPress database without sufficient output encoding. When the stored content renders in the administrative interface, the injected script executes in the browser context of the victim. This chains a client-side CSRF flaw into a Stored XSS payload, giving the attacker access to authenticated session resources.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of CSRF protection on plugin form submissions combined with inadequate sanitization of inputs that are later rendered to the page. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() primitives, but the affected plugin versions do not use them on the vulnerable endpoints. Stored values are echoed without escaping through functions such as esc_html() or esc_attr().

Attack Vector

The attack requires user interaction. An attacker hosts a malicious page or sends a crafted link to a WordPress administrator who has an active session with the target site. When the administrator visits the attacker-controlled page, the browser submits a forged request to the plugin endpoint. The payload is stored in the plugin configuration, and subsequent administrative page loads execute the injected JavaScript. Technical details are documented in the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22582

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected <script> tags or HTML event handlers stored in Uptime Robot plugin options within the wp_options table.
• Outbound HTTP requests from administrator browsers to unknown third-party domains after visiting WordPress admin pages.
• New or modified administrator accounts created shortly after admin sessions on the affected site.

Detection Strategies

• Review web server access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints lacking a valid Referer header originating from the WordPress admin domain.
• Inspect database entries associated with the uptime-robot plugin for HTML or JavaScript content where plain text is expected.
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) ruleset that flags CSRF patterns and reflected script payloads against /wp-admin/ endpoints.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable WordPress audit logging to record plugin setting changes and correlate with administrator session activity.
• Monitor for anomalous JavaScript execution in administrator browsers using browser-based runtime telemetry where available.
• Alert on creation of WordPress users with administrator role outside of approved change windows.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22582

Immediate Actions Required

• Disable or remove the Scott Nelle Uptime Robot plugin until a patched release is published by the maintainer.
• Audit the wp_options table for any stored payloads matching script tags or JavaScript URI schemes and remove them.
• Force password resets and session invalidation for all WordPress administrator accounts on affected sites.

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on 2026-04-23, no fixed version beyond 0.1.3 has been identified in the available references. Consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the latest remediation status from the plugin maintainer.

Workarounds

• Restrict access to the WordPress admin interface via IP allowlists or VPN to reduce exposure to CSRF chains.
• Deploy a WAF with rules enforcing strict Referer and Origin header validation on /wp-admin/admin-post.php and /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php.
• Require administrators to use separate browser profiles or containers for WordPress administration to limit cross-site session reuse.

# Configuration example: disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate uptime-robot
wp plugin delete uptime-robot