CVE-2025-32267: WP to Hootsuite Plugin CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-32267 Overview

CVE-2025-32267 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Post to Social Media – WordPress to Hootsuite plugin (wp-to-hootsuite) by wpzinc. The flaw impacts all plugin versions up to and including 1.5.8. An attacker can trick an authenticated WordPress user into submitting a forged request that performs unintended actions in the plugin context. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as clicking a malicious link or visiting a crafted page while logged in. The issue is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to perform limited unauthorized state-changing actions in the plugin on behalf of an authenticated WordPress user.

Affected Products

wpzinc Post to Social Media – WordPress to Hootsuite plugin (wp-to-hootsuite)
All versions from n/a through <= 1.5.8
WordPress installations running the vulnerable plugin

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-04 - CVE-2025-32267 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-32267

Vulnerability Analysis

The wp-to-hootsuite plugin integrates WordPress with the Hootsuite social media platform, enabling posts to be pushed to social channels. The vulnerability stems from missing or insufficient CSRF protections on one or more plugin request handlers. When a state-changing action is triggered, the plugin does not adequately validate that the request originated from a legitimate user session within the WordPress admin interface.

An attacker leverages this weakness by crafting a malicious page or link. When an authenticated WordPress user visits the attacker-controlled resource, the browser automatically attaches the user's session cookies to the forged request. The plugin then processes the request as if it came from the user directly.

Because the attack requires user interaction, exploitation depends on social engineering. However, the network attack vector and lack of privilege requirements make targeted phishing against WordPress administrators feasible. According to the Patchstack advisory, the issue affects all releases through 1.5.8.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of proper anti-CSRF controls, such as WordPress nonces validated with wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer(), on sensitive plugin endpoints. Without these tokens, the plugin cannot distinguish between requests initiated by the user in the admin UI and requests forged by a third-party origin.

Attack Vector

The attacker hosts a page containing a forged HTML form or JavaScript that automatically submits a request to a vulnerable plugin endpoint on the target WordPress site. The victim, who must be authenticated to WordPress, is lured to the page through phishing, a comment, or another web channel. On visit, the browser submits the request with the victim's cookies, and the plugin executes the action.

See the Patchstack WordPress Plugin Advisory for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-32267

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected plugin configuration changes or unauthorized social media posts pushed from WordPress to Hootsuite.
Access log entries showing POST requests to wp-to-hootsuite plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external, untrusted domains.
Requests to plugin action handlers that lack the expected _wpnonce parameter.

Detection Strategies

Review WordPress access logs for requests to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=wp-to-hootsuite* or plugin AJAX handlers with foreign or missing referrers.
Correlate authenticated admin sessions with anomalous outbound Hootsuite API activity that does not match user-driven publishing patterns.
Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that flag state-changing requests to plugin endpoints without a valid nonce.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging to capture plugin configuration and posting actions with user, IP, and referrer context.
Alert on administrator accounts performing plugin actions from unusual browsers, geolocations, or user-agent strings.
Monitor the plugin directory for the installed version and alert when it remains at 1.5.8 or earlier after a patch is available.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-32267

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all WordPress sites running the wp-to-hootsuite plugin and confirm the installed version.
Deactivate the plugin on affected sites until a patched release is installed, especially on multi-author or high-privilege environments.
Force administrators to log out of active sessions and require reauthentication to invalidate any in-flight forged requests.
Restrict /wp-admin access by IP allowlisting where operationally feasible.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the Patchstack advisory lists all versions through 1.5.8 as affected. Administrators should upgrade to any vendor release published after 1.5.8 that references CVE-2025-32267 in its changelog. If no fixed version is available, remove the plugin.

Workarounds

Uninstall wp-to-hootsuite and use an alternative, maintained social publishing integration.
Deploy a WAF rule enforcing presence and validity of the WordPress _wpnonce parameter on plugin endpoints.
Train WordPress administrators to log out of wp-admin before browsing untrusted sites and to use a dedicated browser profile for administration.

bash

# Example: disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI on all sites in a multisite network
wp plugin deactivate wp-to-hootsuite --network
wp plugin status wp-to-hootsuite