CVE-2025-39425 Overview
CVE-2025-39425 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the pixelgrade Style Manager plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions of the style-manager plugin up to and including 2.2.7. An attacker can craft a malicious web page that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, triggers unauthorized settings changes on the target WordPress site. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery and requires user interaction to succeed.
Critical Impact
An attacker can modify Style Manager plugin settings by tricking an authenticated administrator into visiting an attacker-controlled page, resulting in unauthorized configuration changes.
Affected Products
- pixelgrade Style Manager plugin for WordPress
- All versions from n/a through 2.2.7
- WordPress sites using the style-manager plugin
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-04-17 - CVE-2025-39425 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-39425
Vulnerability Analysis
The Style Manager plugin fails to validate the origin of state-changing HTTP requests. The plugin does not enforce a valid WordPress nonce or equivalent anti-CSRF token on privileged endpoints that modify plugin settings. An attacker who lures an authenticated administrator to a malicious page can cause the victim's browser to submit forged requests using the victim's active session cookies.
The issue impacts confidentiality minimally but allows unauthorized integrity changes to plugin configuration. Because the attack executes with the victim's browser context, it bypasses standard perimeter controls and relies solely on the victim's authenticated session. Successful exploitation does not require credentials on the attacker's side.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or improperly implemented CSRF protection on settings-modification handlers within the style-manager plugin. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() to prevent such attacks, but the vulnerable code paths omit these checks. Requests that alter plugin state are accepted based on session cookies alone, which browsers automatically attach to cross-origin requests.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires an authenticated WordPress administrator to visit an attacker-controlled page or click a crafted link. The malicious page issues an automatic form submission or fetch request to the vulnerable Style Manager endpoint. The victim's browser attaches the WordPress session cookie, and the server processes the forged request as legitimate.
No direct network access to the WordPress admin panel is required from the attacker. The attack surface is any browser session where an administrator is logged into the affected WordPress instance. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-39425
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected changes to Style Manager plugin settings without a corresponding administrator action in audit logs.
- HTTP POST or GET requests to Style Manager admin endpoints containing Referer headers from external domains.
- WordPress administrator sessions producing plugin configuration writes shortly after visiting external URLs.
Detection Strategies
- Review WordPress access logs for state-changing requests to style-manager endpoints that lack a valid _wpnonce parameter.
- Correlate administrator browsing activity with plugin configuration modification events.
- Deploy a web application firewall rule to flag cross-origin Referer headers on admin-area POST requests.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable WordPress audit logging plugins to record settings changes with user and source IP attribution.
- Alert on modifications to Style Manager options when the originating Referer header does not match the WordPress site domain.
- Monitor administrator accounts for anomalous activity patterns following email or link-based social engineering.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-39425
Immediate Actions Required
- Identify all WordPress instances running the pixelgrade Style Manager plugin at version 2.2.7 or earlier.
- Update the style-manager plugin to a patched version once released by the vendor.
- Restrict administrator browsing habits and require dedicated browsers or profiles for WordPress admin sessions.
Patch Information
At the time of publication, the vulnerability affects Style Manager versions up to and including 2.2.7. Administrators should consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the vendor's plugin repository for a patched release. Apply updates through the WordPress admin dashboard or via WP-CLI once available.
Workarounds
- Disable the Style Manager plugin until a patched version is installed.
- Enforce SameSite cookie attributes on WordPress session cookies to reduce cross-site request success rates.
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks admin-area POST requests missing a same-origin Referer or Origin header.
- Limit administrator accounts and require dedicated browser sessions for WordPress administration.
# Disable the vulnerable plugin using WP-CLI until a patch is available
wp plugin deactivate style-manager
wp plugin status style-manager
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
