CVE-2025-30542: SoundCloud Ultimate CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-30542 Overview

CVE-2025-30542 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability [CWE-352] in the wpsolutions SoundCloud Ultimate WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of soundcloud-ultimate up to and including version 1.5. An attacker can craft a malicious web page or link that triggers unauthorized state-changing actions when an authenticated WordPress user visits it. Exploitation requires user interaction but no privileges on the target site. The Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) rates this vulnerability at 0.197% with a percentile of 9.677.

Critical Impact
An attacker can trick an authenticated WordPress user into executing unintended plugin actions, resulting in limited integrity impact on the affected site.

Affected Products

wpsolutions SoundCloud Ultimate plugin for WordPress
All versions from initial release through 1.5
WordPress sites with the soundcloud-ultimate plugin installed and active

Discovery Timeline

2025-03-24 - CVE-2025-30542 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-30542

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from missing or improper CSRF protection in the SoundCloud Ultimate plugin. WordPress provides nonce-based request verification through functions such as wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer(). When plugin action handlers do not validate a nonce, any authenticated request originating from an attacker-controlled context is accepted as legitimate.

An attacker hosts a malicious page or embeds a forged form on a third-party site. When a logged-in WordPress user browses to that page, the browser automatically attaches session cookies to the outbound request. The plugin processes the request as if the user had submitted it directly from the WordPress admin interface.

The impact is limited to integrity, with no direct confidentiality or availability effects. Successful exploitation can modify plugin settings or trigger administrative actions exposed by the plugin without the user's knowledge.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of anti-CSRF tokens on plugin request handlers. The plugin does not verify request origin using WordPress nonces or referer checks, allowing forged cross-origin requests to be processed as authenticated actions.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires user interaction. An attacker must convince an authenticated administrator or privileged user to visit a crafted URL or web page. See the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability advisory for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-30542

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected changes to SoundCloud Ultimate plugin configuration or embedded content
HTTP POST requests to plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external, unrelated domains
WordPress admin actions performed outside of normal administrator working hours
Absence of valid nonce parameters (_wpnonce) in plugin-related requests in web server logs

Detection Strategies

Review WordPress access logs for POST requests to soundcloud-ultimate plugin endpoints originating from external referers
Audit plugin settings and content changes against a known-good baseline
Enable WordPress activity logging plugins to capture administrative actions with source IP and referer data

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on plugin configuration changes without a corresponding authenticated admin session from a trusted IP
Monitor outbound traffic patterns from administrative user sessions for signs of automated redirection
Track failed and successful requests to wp-admin endpoints correlated with unusual referer chains

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-30542

Immediate Actions Required

Update the SoundCloud Ultimate plugin to a version above 1.5 once a patched release becomes available
Deactivate and remove the plugin if a patch is not yet published and the functionality is non-essential
Instruct administrators to log out of WordPress sessions before browsing untrusted sites

Patch Information

At the time of NVD publication, no fixed version was listed. Monitor the Patchstack advisory and the plugin's WordPress.org page for updated release information.

Workarounds

Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to require a valid Referer or Origin header matching the site domain for plugin endpoints
Restrict access to wp-admin by IP allowlisting where operationally feasible
Enforce SameSite=Lax or Strict cookie attributes on WordPress session cookies to reduce cross-site request risk

bash

# Example nginx rule to block cross-origin POSTs to the plugin endpoint
location ~* /wp-admin/admin-post\.php {
    if ($http_origin !~* "^https?://(www\.)?example\.com$") {
        return 403;
    }
}