CVE-2025-39371 Overview
CVE-2025-39371 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Sanjeev Mohindra Author Box Plugin With Different Description WordPress plugin. The flaw impacts all versions up to and including 1.3.5. An attacker can craft a malicious web page that, when visited by an authenticated WordPress user, triggers unintended state-changing actions in the plugin. The issue is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery and requires user interaction to succeed.
Critical Impact
Authenticated users visiting attacker-controlled pages can be coerced into performing plugin actions that modify site data without their consent.
Affected Products
- Sanjeev Mohindra Author Box Plugin With Different Description (author-box-with-different-description)
- All versions from initial release through 1.3.5
- WordPress installations with the plugin activated
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-05-19 - CVE-2025-39371 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-39371
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability stems from missing or improper anti-CSRF protection on state-changing plugin endpoints. WordPress provides nonce APIs such as wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() to bind requests to a user session. When these controls are absent, any authenticated browser session becomes an implicit authorization token for cross-origin requests. An attacker exploits this by hosting a page that submits a forged request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint. If a logged-in WordPress user visits the page, the browser attaches session cookies and the plugin processes the action as legitimate.
The recorded impact indicates low integrity effect with no confidentiality or availability impact. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically clicking a link or loading an attacker-controlled resource. Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for advisory details.
Root Cause
The plugin fails to validate a per-request nonce or an equivalent unpredictable token before executing privileged operations. Without token verification, the server cannot distinguish a legitimate form submission from a cross-origin forgery.
Attack Vector
An attacker delivers a crafted link, image, or auto-submitting form through phishing, comments, or a compromised site. The victim must be authenticated to the target WordPress instance when interacting with the payload. The forged request then executes with the victim's privileges against the vulnerable plugin endpoint.
// No verified proof-of-concept code is available for this CVE.
// See the Patchstack advisory linked above for technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-39371
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected configuration changes to author box entries or plugin settings without a corresponding admin action in audit logs.
- HTTP POST requests to plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external, untrusted domains.
- Administrator sessions producing state-changing requests immediately after visiting external links in email or chat.
Detection Strategies
- Inspect web server access logs for POST requests targeting author-box-with-different-description handlers that lack a same-origin Referer or Origin header.
- Correlate WordPress activity logs with authenticated user browsing telemetry to identify off-site request triggers.
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that flags plugin admin actions missing a valid nonce parameter.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a WordPress activity log plugin to record all administrative changes with source IP and referrer.
- Monitor for new or modified plugin settings entries in the wp_options table outside of scheduled maintenance windows.
- Alert on administrator account activity originating from cross-origin browser contexts.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-39371
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate the Author Box Plugin With Different Description plugin until a patched version is confirmed by the vendor.
- Require administrators to log out of WordPress sessions when browsing untrusted content.
- Apply a WAF rule to block requests to plugin endpoints that lack a valid _wpnonce parameter.
Patch Information
At the time of publication, no fixed version beyond 1.3.5 is listed in the referenced advisory. Review the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for updated version guidance from the maintainer.
Workarounds
- Remove the plugin if a maintained alternative is available and the functionality is non-essential.
- Restrict WordPress admin access using IP allowlisting or a VPN to reduce the exposure of authenticated sessions.
- Enforce SameSite=Strict session cookies where compatible to limit cross-site cookie transmission.
# Disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI until a fix is available
wp plugin deactivate author-box-with-different-description
wp plugin status author-box-with-different-description
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
