CVE-2025-22590: Prayer Times Anywhere CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-22590 Overview

CVE-2025-22590 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Prayer Times Anywhere WordPress plugin (developed by mmrs151) that enables attackers to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. The vulnerability exists because the plugin fails to properly validate request origins and sanitize user input, allowing attackers to chain CSRF with persistent XSS payloads that execute in the context of authenticated users' browsers.

Critical Impact

Attackers can exploit this CSRF-to-Stored-XSS chain to inject malicious scripts that persist in the WordPress database, potentially compromising administrator sessions, stealing credentials, or redirecting site visitors to malicious destinations.

Affected Products

• Prayer Times Anywhere WordPress Plugin versions up to and including 2.0.1
• WordPress installations running vulnerable versions of the prayer-times-anywhere plugin

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-07 - CVE-2025-22590 published to NVD
• 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-22590

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a dangerous combination of two distinct attack classes: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). The attack chain begins when an authenticated WordPress administrator visits a malicious page crafted by an attacker. Due to missing CSRF protection (anti-CSRF tokens/nonces), the plugin's administrative actions can be triggered without proper origin validation.

The absence of CSRF protections allows attackers to forge requests that modify plugin settings or content. What elevates this vulnerability's impact is the secondary XSS component—user-supplied input is stored in the database without adequate sanitization or output encoding. When this stored content is subsequently rendered to users, the malicious script executes in their browser context.

The network-based attack vector means exploitation requires no prior authentication or special privileges from the attacker's perspective, though user interaction (visiting a malicious page) is required to trigger the CSRF component. The cross-site scope indicates potential impact beyond the vulnerable component itself.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-22590 lies in two fundamental security control failures within the Prayer Times Anywhere plugin:

1. Missing CSRF Token Validation: The plugin's form handlers and AJAX endpoints do not implement WordPress nonce verification (wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer()), allowing cross-origin requests to be processed as legitimate.

2. Insufficient Input Sanitization: User-controlled data passed through the vulnerable endpoints is stored in the database without proper sanitization using WordPress functions like sanitize_text_field(), esc_html(), or wp_kses().

This combination allows attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript that persists and executes whenever the affected content is displayed.

Attack Vector

The attack follows a typical CSRF-to-Stored-XSS chain:

1. Reconnaissance: Attacker identifies a WordPress site running Prayer Times Anywhere plugin version 2.0.1 or earlier
2. Payload Crafting: Attacker creates a malicious HTML page containing a hidden form that auto-submits to the vulnerable plugin endpoint
3. Social Engineering: Attacker tricks a WordPress administrator into visiting the malicious page while authenticated
4. CSRF Exploitation: The forged request is submitted with the admin's session cookies, bypassing the absent CSRF protections
5. XSS Payload Storage: The malicious JavaScript payload is stored in the WordPress database
6. Execution: The stored XSS payload executes whenever affected pages are viewed, potentially compromising additional users

The vulnerability mechanism involves forged form submissions that inject script payloads into plugin settings. Attackers typically embed JavaScript that can steal session cookies, create rogue administrator accounts, or redirect users to phishing pages. For complete technical details, refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22590

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected modifications to Prayer Times Anywhere plugin settings or stored content
• JavaScript or HTML injection patterns in database entries related to the plugin (look for <script>, onerror=, onload=, or encoded variants)
• Suspicious outbound requests from administrator browsers to unknown domains
• Unauthorized administrator accounts or privilege changes following the compromise

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress database tables associated with the Prayer Times Anywhere plugin for unexpected HTML/JavaScript content
• Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to detect and block inline script execution attempts
• Review web server access logs for suspicious POST requests to plugin endpoints originating from external referrers
• Deploy WordPress security plugins that monitor for unauthorized settings changes and database modifications

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable WordPress audit logging to track all administrative actions and plugin setting modifications
• Configure web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect CSRF attack patterns and XSS payloads in request bodies
• Monitor for anomalous JavaScript execution patterns using browser-based security tools or endpoint detection solutions
• Set up alerts for new administrator account creation or privilege escalation events

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22590

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Prayer Times Anywhere plugin to the latest patched version if available from the WordPress plugin repository
• If no patch is available, consider temporarily deactivating the plugin until a security update is released
• Audit WordPress database for any injected malicious content in plugin-related tables
• Force password resets for all administrator accounts and invalidate active sessions
• Review and remove any unauthorized user accounts that may have been created during exploitation

Patch Information

No official vendor patch information is currently available in the CVE data. Users should monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for updates and check the WordPress plugin repository for newer versions of Prayer Times Anywhere that address this vulnerability.

Workarounds

• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests with potentially malicious payloads targeting the plugin endpoints
• Use WordPress security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri that provide virtual patching capabilities
• Restrict access to WordPress admin pages using IP allowlisting or VPN requirements
• Apply Content Security Policy headers to mitigate the impact of any XSS payloads that may have been stored

# Example .htaccess rules to restrict admin access by IP
<Files wp-admin>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from YOUR.TRUSTED.IP.ADDRESS
</Files>

# Example CSP header to mitigate XSS impact (add to wp-config.php or .htaccess)
# Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none';"