CVE-2025-23463 Overview
CVE-2025-23463 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Mukesh Dak MD Custom content after or before of post WordPress plugin (md-custom-content). The flaw chains CSRF with Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), allowing attackers to inject persistent JavaScript payloads into the WordPress site by tricking an authenticated administrator into visiting a crafted page. The issue affects all versions up to and including 1.0. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Critical Impact
An attacker can persist arbitrary JavaScript in the WordPress database by abusing missing CSRF protections, leading to session theft, administrative account takeover, and site defacement when other users view affected pages.
Affected Products
- Mukesh Dak MD Custom content after or before of post plugin for WordPress
- Versions from n/a through <= 1.0
- WordPress sites with the md-custom-content plugin installed and activated
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-01-16 - CVE-2025-23463 published to NVD
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-23463
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability resides in the md-custom-content plugin's request handling for saving custom content displayed before or after WordPress posts. State-changing endpoints in the plugin do not validate WordPress nonces or verify request origin. As a result, an attacker can forge requests that an authenticated administrator's browser will submit automatically.
Because the plugin also fails to sanitize or escape user-supplied content on input or output, the forged request stores attacker-controlled HTML and JavaScript directly in the database. Each subsequent page render executes the payload in the browser context of any visitor, including other administrators. The chain converts a one-click social engineering interaction into persistent script execution on the target site.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing anti-CSRF token validation on plugin administrative actions, compounded by absent input sanitization and output encoding. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() to mitigate CSRF, and wp_kses_post() or esc_html() for output filtering. Neither pattern is enforced in the affected plugin code paths through version 1.0.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires user interaction (UI:R) but no privileges on the target site. The attacker hosts a malicious page containing an auto-submitting form or fetch() call targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoint. When a logged-in WordPress administrator visits the page, their browser submits the request with valid session cookies. The injected script then executes in the context of the WordPress site for every visitor who loads the affected post. Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Analysis for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23463
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script>, <iframe>, or event-handler attributes stored in custom content fields managed by the md-custom-content plugin.
- Outbound requests from visitor browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after viewing posts on the affected WordPress site.
- WordPress audit log entries showing administrator-initiated plugin setting changes from unusual referrers or external origins.
Detection Strategies
- Review the wp_options and plugin-specific database rows for HTML content containing JavaScript event handlers, encoded payloads, or external script sources.
- Inspect web server access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints lacking a same-origin Referer header.
- Run automated XSS scanners against rendered post pages to identify reflected or stored script execution.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable WordPress activity logging to capture plugin configuration changes with user, IP, and referrer metadata.
- Monitor for new or modified administrator accounts and unexpected privilege changes following potential exploitation.
- Alert on Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports indicating inline script execution on post pages.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23463
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the md-custom-content plugin until a patched version is released by the vendor.
- Audit all stored custom content for malicious markup and remove injected payloads from the database.
- Force password resets and invalidate active sessions for all WordPress administrator accounts.
Patch Information
No vendor patch is currently referenced in the NVD entry. The vulnerability affects all versions through 1.0. Site owners should monitor the Patchstack advisory for updates and apply any vendor release immediately upon availability.
Workarounds
- Replace the plugin with an actively maintained alternative that implements WordPress nonce validation and output escaping.
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block cross-origin POST requests targeting the plugin's admin endpoints.
- Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts and restricts script sources to trusted origins.
- Require administrators to use separate browser profiles or sessions for WordPress administration to reduce CSRF exposure.
# Example CSP header to limit stored XSS impact
Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'; frame-ancestors 'self'; base-uri 'self'"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
