CVE-2025-46511: BeerXML Shortcode SSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46511 Overview

CVE-2025-46511 is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the BeerXML Shortcode WordPress plugin developed by Derek Springer. The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 0.7.1. An authenticated attacker with low privileges can coerce the WordPress server to issue arbitrary HTTP requests to attacker-chosen destinations. This scope-changing behavior can expose internal network resources and metadata endpoints not otherwise reachable from the internet. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
Attackers with low-privilege WordPress accounts can pivot through vulnerable sites to reach internal services, cloud metadata endpoints, and other resources behind network boundaries.

Affected Products

Derek Springer BeerXML Shortcode plugin for WordPress
All versions from initial release through 0.7.1
WordPress installations with the beerxml-shortcode plugin activated

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-24 - CVE-2025-46511 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46511

Vulnerability Analysis

The BeerXML Shortcode plugin fetches remote BeerXML recipe files supplied through a shortcode parameter. The plugin retrieves and parses the referenced URL server-side without validating the destination host. An authenticated user submitting a shortcode with a crafted URL causes the WordPress backend to perform an outbound HTTP request on the attacker's behalf.

Because the scope changes from the WordPress process to arbitrary network destinations, the request can reach hosts unreachable from the public internet. Typical targets include cloud instance metadata services, internal administrative interfaces, and adjacent services on the same virtual private cloud. Response data or error timing can leak information about internal infrastructure.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing validation of user-controlled URLs before they are passed to the plugin's remote fetch routine. The plugin does not enforce an allowlist of hosts, block private IP ranges, or reject non-HTTP schemes. This maps directly to CWE-918, where a server accepts a URL from a lower-trust source and dereferences it without restriction.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires a WordPress account with sufficient privileges to publish content containing shortcodes, such as a Contributor or Author role. The attacker embeds the BeerXML shortcode referencing an internal or attacker-selected URL. When the page is rendered or previewed, WordPress issues the outbound request from its own network position.

Common abuse patterns include probing http://169.254.169.254/ on cloud instances for temporary credentials, scanning internal RFC 1918 address ranges, and interacting with unauthenticated internal APIs. See the Patchstack advisory for additional detail on the vulnerable request handler.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46511

Indicators of Compromise

Outbound HTTP requests from the WordPress web server process to internal IP ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16) or link-local 169.254.169.254
Web server access logs showing shortcode-containing posts submitted by low-privilege accounts followed by unusual outbound traffic
Requests to cloud metadata endpoints originating from PHP worker processes
New or modified posts containing [beerxml] shortcodes with URLs pointing to non-standard hosts

Detection Strategies

Monitor egress traffic from web application servers and alert on connections to private address space or metadata IPs
Inspect WordPress post content for BeerXML shortcode parameters referencing internal hostnames, IP literals, or non-HTTPS schemes
Correlate low-privilege user activity with outbound HTTP traffic anomalies from the PHP-FPM or Apache process

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging for post creation and shortcode usage by Contributor and Author roles
Forward web server egress netflow and DNS query logs to a central analytics platform for baseline deviation analysis
Review Patchstack and WordPress vulnerability feeds for updates to the beerxml-shortcode plugin

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46511

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate and remove the BeerXML Shortcode plugin until a patched version is confirmed available
Audit WordPress user accounts and restrict shortcode-capable roles to trusted individuals
Rotate any cloud instance credentials that may have been exposed through the metadata service
Apply egress filtering on the WordPress server to block access to internal address space and metadata IPs

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no fixed version of the BeerXML Shortcode plugin is listed as available. Version 0.7.1 and all prior releases remain vulnerable. Consult the Patchstack advisory for the current patch status before reinstalling the plugin.

Workarounds

Remove the plugin from all WordPress installations where an update is not yet available
Configure the web server or a forward proxy to block outbound requests to private IP ranges and 169.254.169.254
Enforce IMDSv2 on AWS EC2 instances to require session tokens for metadata access
Restrict Contributor and Author role assignments and require editorial review before post publication

bash

# Example: block egress to metadata and RFC1918 from the web server using iptables
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 169.254.169.254 -j REJECT
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 10.0.0.0/8 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REJECT
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 172.16.0.0/12 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REJECT
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 192.168.0.0/16 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REJECT

# Enforce IMDSv2 on an existing EC2 instance
aws ec2 modify-instance-metadata-options \
    --instance-id i-0123456789abcdef0 \
    --http-tokens required \
    --http-endpoint enabled