CVE-2025-46243 Overview
CVE-2025-46243 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Recover abandoned cart for WooCommerce WordPress plugin developed by sonalsinha21 (sktthemes). The flaw affects all versions of recover-wc-abandoned-cart up to and including 2.2. An attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged HTTP request that performs privileged actions inside the plugin without their consent.
The weakness is classified under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically by luring an authenticated WordPress user to a malicious page or link.
Critical Impact
A successful CSRF attack against a logged-in WordPress administrator can lead to unauthorized changes to plugin configuration, abandoned cart data, or chained actions that compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the WooCommerce store.
Affected Products
- sktthemes Recover Abandoned Cart for WooCommerce — versions up to and including 2.2
- WordPress installations running the recover-wc-abandoned-cart plugin
- WooCommerce stores depending on the affected plugin for cart recovery workflows
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-04-22 - CVE-2025-46243 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-46243
Vulnerability Analysis
The Recover abandoned cart for WooCommerce plugin exposes state-changing endpoints that do not properly validate the origin of incoming HTTP requests. Without anti-CSRF tokens such as WordPress nonces or strict referer checks, the plugin cannot distinguish between requests intentionally issued by an administrator and requests forged by a remote attacker.
An attacker hosts a crafted page containing an auto-submitting form or JavaScript that targets a vulnerable plugin endpoint. When an authenticated WordPress user with appropriate privileges visits that page, their browser silently sends the request along with valid session cookies. The plugin processes the request as if the administrator initiated it.
Because the attack vector is the network and user interaction is required, exploitation depends on phishing, malicious advertising, or compromised third-party content the target visits while logged into WordPress.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or insufficient CSRF protection on plugin actions through version 2.2. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() primitives specifically to mitigate this class of bug. The affected handlers in recover-wc-abandoned-cart fail to enforce these checks before performing privileged operations.
Attack Vector
The attacker delivers a malicious link or page to a WordPress administrator who has an active session. When the victim's browser loads the attacker-controlled content, it automatically issues a cross-origin request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint on the target WordPress site. The plugin executes the action under the administrator's identity, allowing the attacker to alter plugin behavior or settings without ever stealing credentials.
For additional technical context, refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46243
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to Recover abandoned cart for WooCommerce plugin settings or templates without corresponding admin audit entries
- WordPress access logs showing POST requests to plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to unrelated external domains
- Administrator sessions making plugin configuration changes immediately after visiting external links or emails
Detection Strategies
- Review WordPress activity logs for state-changing actions on the recover-wc-abandoned-cart plugin that lack a valid nonce parameter in the request
- Inspect web server logs for cross-origin POST requests targeting /wp-admin/admin.php?page=recover-wc-abandoned-cart* or related plugin URLs
- Correlate administrator browser activity with plugin configuration changes to identify forged request patterns
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a WordPress audit logging plugin to track all configuration changes with user, IP address, and request origin
- Forward web server and WordPress logs to a centralized SIEM for cross-correlation with phishing or malicious URL telemetry
- Alert on plugin setting changes occurring outside normal administrative windows or from unusual referer headers
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46243
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate the Recover abandoned cart for WooCommerce plugin until a patched version above 2.2 is installed and verified
- Require administrators to log out of WordPress before browsing untrusted sites and enforce short session lifetimes
- Restrict /wp-admin/ access by IP address or VPN to reduce exposure to opportunistic CSRF delivery
Patch Information
At the time of publication, the NVD entry lists affected versions through 2.2 with no fixed version explicitly recorded. Monitor the plugin's WordPress.org page and the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the vendor's fixed release and apply it immediately once available.
Workarounds
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that blocks POST requests to plugin endpoints lacking a valid WordPress nonce parameter
- Enforce SameSite=Lax or SameSite=Strict cookie attributes on WordPress authentication cookies to limit cross-site request execution
- Use browser isolation or a dedicated administrative browser profile to prevent attacker-controlled pages from reaching authenticated sessions
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
