CVE-2025-23690: Book a Place CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-23690 Overview

CVE-2025-23690 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the ArtkanMedia Book a Place WordPress plugin that enables attackers to achieve Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). This chained vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to trick authenticated administrators into performing unintended actions that inject malicious scripts into the website, which are then persistently stored and executed in the browsers of other users.

Critical Impact

This CSRF-to-Stored-XSS vulnerability chain can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, website defacement, and malware distribution through compromised WordPress sites running the vulnerable Book a Place plugin.

Affected Products

• ArtkanMedia Book a Place WordPress plugin versions through 0.7.1

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-16 - CVE-2025-23690 published to NVD
• 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-23690

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a dangerous combination of two distinct web application security flaws. The Book a Place plugin fails to implement proper CSRF token validation on one or more of its form submission endpoints, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that are executed in the context of an authenticated administrator's session. The lack of input sanitization and output encoding on these same endpoints enables the injected content to be stored in the database and rendered as executable JavaScript when displayed to users.

The network-based attack vector means exploitation can be conducted remotely, though user interaction is required—specifically, an authenticated administrator must be lured into clicking a malicious link or visiting a crafted webpage while logged into their WordPress dashboard. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems through the potential for session hijacking, content manipulation, and denial of service via persistent malicious scripts.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-23690 is the absence of CSRF protection mechanisms (such as nonce verification) on plugin form handlers, combined with insufficient input validation and output encoding. WordPress provides built-in functions like wp_nonce_field() and wp_verify_nonce() for CSRF protection, and esc_html(), esc_attr(), and wp_kses() for output sanitization, which appear to be missing or improperly implemented in the affected versions of the Book a Place plugin.

Attack Vector

The attack follows a two-stage exploitation pattern:

1. CSRF Exploitation: The attacker crafts a malicious HTML page containing a hidden form that targets a vulnerable endpoint in the Book a Place plugin. This form contains XSS payload data in fields that will be stored by the plugin.

2. Stored XSS Execution: When an authenticated WordPress administrator visits the attacker's page, the form is automatically submitted (via JavaScript auto-submit or social engineering), causing the XSS payload to be stored in the WordPress database. Subsequently, when any user (including other administrators) views the affected page, the stored malicious script executes in their browser context.

The attack requires no prior authentication to the target site, only that an administrator be tricked into visiting a malicious page while logged in. For technical implementation details, see the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23690

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected JavaScript code or <script> tags appearing in plugin-managed content or database entries
• Suspicious admin activity logs showing form submissions originating from external referrers
• User reports of unexpected browser behavior, pop-ups, or redirects when viewing booking-related pages
• Unauthorized changes to WordPress settings or user accounts following administrator activity

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress database tables associated with the Book a Place plugin for suspicious HTML or JavaScript content
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect CSRF attack patterns and XSS payloads
• Review Apache or Nginx access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints from suspicious external referrers
• Deploy browser-based Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to help detect and prevent XSS execution

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable WordPress audit logging to track all administrative actions and form submissions
• Configure real-time alerts for any modifications to plugin database tables
• Monitor for outbound connections from the web server that may indicate data exfiltration from successful XSS attacks
• Regularly scan stored content using automated XSS detection tools

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23690

Immediate Actions Required

• Deactivate the Book a Place plugin immediately until a patched version is available
• Review WordPress database for any injected malicious content and remove if found
• Audit administrator accounts for unauthorized changes or suspicious activity
• Force password resets for all administrator accounts if compromise is suspected
• Implement WAF rules to block common CSRF and XSS attack patterns

Patch Information

As of the last available information, versions through 0.7.1 of the Book a Place plugin are vulnerable. Check the WordPress plugin repository and the Patchstack advisory for updates on patched versions. Until a patch is released, the plugin should remain deactivated on production sites.

Workarounds

• Disable the Book a Place plugin entirely until a security update is available
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules targeting CSRF and XSS attacks
• Restrict access to WordPress admin dashboard by IP address to limit exposure
• Consider using alternative booking plugins that have been recently audited for security vulnerabilities

# Deactivate the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate book-a-place

# Verify plugin is deactivated
wp plugin list --status=inactive | grep book-a-place

# Search database for potential XSS payloads (example for MySQL)
# Review results manually before any deletion
wp db query "SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_value LIKE '%<script%';"