CVE-2025-31871: WP Clone Any Post Type Open Redirect Flaw

CVE-2025-31871 Overview

CVE-2025-31871 is an open redirect vulnerability in the Galaxy Weblinks WP Clone any post type WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of wp-clone-any-post-type up to and including 3.6. An unauthenticated attacker can craft a URL that appears to originate from a trusted WordPress site but redirects users to an attacker-controlled destination. The issue is tracked under CWE-601: URL Redirection to Untrusted Site and enables phishing campaigns that abuse the trusted domain reputation. The vulnerability requires user interaction, typically clicking a malicious link.

Critical Impact
Attackers can leverage the trusted WordPress domain to redirect victims to phishing pages, credential harvesters, or malware delivery sites without any authentication.

Affected Products

Galaxy Weblinks WP Clone any post type plugin for WordPress
Versions from n/a through 3.6 (inclusive)
WordPress sites with wp-clone-any-post-type installed and active

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-01 - CVE-2025-31871 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-31871

Vulnerability Analysis

The plugin accepts a user-supplied URL parameter and issues an HTTP redirect without validating that the destination points to a permitted host. This is a classic open redirect pattern classified under [CWE-601]. Because the initial request targets the legitimate WordPress domain, security filters, email gateways, and users trust the link. The redirect then forwards the victim to an arbitrary external URL chosen by the attacker.

The EPSS score is 0.336% (25.6 percentile), indicating a low but non-zero probability of active exploitation. No public proof-of-concept exploit is currently listed, and the vulnerability is not present on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient validation of a redirect target parameter within the plugin's request handling logic. The plugin passes attacker-controlled input to a redirect function without enforcing an allowlist of internal paths or verifying that the destination matches the site's own host. WordPress provides wp_safe_redirect() for this purpose, but the affected code paths use an unsafe redirect primitive instead.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an attacker to craft a URL pointing to the vulnerable WordPress site with an embedded redirect parameter referencing an external domain. The attacker then distributes this link through email, chat, social media, or malicious advertising. When a victim clicks the link, the browser first contacts the trusted WordPress site, which responds with a redirect to the attacker's destination. This technique is commonly chained with credential phishing pages that mimic the original site's branding. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-31871

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to WordPress endpoints associated with wp-clone-any-post-type containing external URLs in query string parameters
Web server access logs showing 302 or 301 redirect responses from plugin URLs to unfamiliar external domains
User reports of phishing emails that reference the organization's WordPress domain but land on unrelated sites

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server and WAF logs for redirect responses originating from wp-clone-any-post-type request paths where the Location header points to an external host
Correlate outbound redirects with newly registered or low-reputation destination domains using threat intelligence feeds
Deploy WAF rules that flag or block requests containing fully qualified external URLs in redirect-related parameters

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose access logging on the WordPress site and forward logs to a centralized SIEM for correlation
Monitor referrer patterns for spikes of external traffic that transit the vulnerable plugin endpoint
Track domain reputation for hosts appearing as redirect destinations from your own site

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-31871

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all WordPress installations running the wp-clone-any-post-type plugin at version 3.6 or earlier
Deactivate and remove the plugin if a patched version is not yet available or if the plugin is no longer required
Notify users and security awareness teams about the risk of phishing links that abuse the site's domain

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the Patchstack advisory lists no fixed version for the wp-clone-any-post-type plugin. Administrators should monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the plugin's WordPress.org listing for a security release, and apply it immediately once available.

Workarounds

Uninstall the plugin until a vendor patch is released, since the impact is limited to administrative post-cloning functionality
Deploy a Web Application Firewall rule that blocks requests to plugin endpoints containing external URLs in redirect parameters
Enforce wp_safe_redirect() behavior through a mu-plugin or filter that validates all outbound redirects against an allowlist of internal hosts

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block external redirect parameters targeting the vulnerable plugin
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains wp-clone-any-post-type" \
    "chain,deny,status:403,id:1003187,msg:'Blocked open redirect attempt CVE-2025-31871'"
    SecRule ARGS "@rx ^https?://(?!yourdomain\.com)" "t:lowercase"