CVE-2025-47624: DoFollow Case By Case CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-47624 Overview

CVE-2025-47624 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the apasionados DoFollow Case by Case WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 3.5.1. An attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged request that performs unauthorized state-changing actions on the plugin. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation lets attackers modify plugin configuration on behalf of an authenticated administrator, with potential cascading impact on site link policy and content integrity.

Affected Products

apasionados DoFollow Case by Case WordPress plugin versions through 3.5.1
WordPress installations with the dofollow-case-by-case plugin enabled
Sites where administrators may browse untrusted external content while authenticated

Discovery Timeline

2025-05-07 - CVE-2025-47624 published to NVD
2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-47624

Vulnerability Analysis

The DoFollow Case by Case plugin exposes administrative actions without sufficient anti-CSRF protection. Requests that change plugin state do not validate a per-session nonce or verify the request origin. An attacker hosting a crafted page can cause a logged-in administrator's browser to issue authenticated requests to the WordPress site. Because the request rides on the administrator's existing session cookies, the plugin processes it as a legitimate configuration change.

The issue resides in the plugin's handling of settings submissions, which omits the standard WordPress wp_verify_nonce() and check_admin_referer() validation pattern. User interaction is required, but only to the extent of visiting a malicious page or clicking a crafted link.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing CSRF token validation on state-changing endpoints, as classified by CWE-352. The plugin does not bind sensitive actions to unguessable, per-request tokens, allowing cross-origin requests to invoke privileged functionality when accompanied by a valid session cookie.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an authenticated WordPress administrator to load attacker-controlled content. The attacker prepares an HTML page containing an auto-submitting form or image tag targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoint. When the administrator visits the page, the browser sends the request with session cookies attached. The plugin executes the action because no nonce check occurs. See the Patchstack Security Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-47624

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to DoFollow Case by Case plugin settings in wp_options
Plugin configuration changes occurring without corresponding admin login activity in the same window
HTTP POST requests to plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external domains
Administrator account activity recorded immediately after the admin visited an unfamiliar external site

Detection Strategies

Audit web server logs for POST requests to /wp-admin/ plugin pages with cross-origin or missing Referer headers
Compare current plugin settings against a known-good baseline at scheduled intervals
Alert on configuration changes when no corresponding interactive admin session exists in WordPress activity logs

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward WordPress audit logs and web server access logs to a centralized analytics platform for correlation
Track plugin version inventory across managed WordPress sites and flag installations at or below version 3.5.1
Monitor for outbound administrator browsing patterns that precede unexplained backend changes

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-47624

Immediate Actions Required

Update the DoFollow Case by Case plugin to a patched release above version 3.5.1 once published by the vendor
Deactivate and remove the plugin from production sites if a fixed version is not yet available
Force administrator session termination and rotate passwords if suspicious configuration changes are observed

Patch Information

No patched version is identified in the public advisory at the time of writing. Refer to the Patchstack Security Vulnerability Report and the vendor's plugin page for updates. Apply the fixed release as soon as it becomes available.

Workarounds

Restrict access to /wp-admin/ via IP allowlisting at the web server or WAF layer
Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks state-changing requests to plugin endpoints lacking a valid same-origin Referer header
Require administrators to use a dedicated browser profile or isolated session when managing WordPress
Remove the plugin entirely if its functionality is non-essential

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block cross-origin POSTs to wp-admin
SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "@streq POST" \
  "chain,phase:1,deny,status:403,id:1004762,msg:'Block cross-origin POST to wp-admin'"
  SecRule REQUEST_URI "@beginsWith /wp-admin/" "chain"
    SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@beginsWith https://your-site.example/"