CVE-2025-49273 Overview
CVE-2025-49273 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the sminozzi WP Tools (wptools) plugin for WordPress. The flaw impacts all plugin versions up to and including 5.24. An attacker can craft a malicious web page that triggers state-changing actions in the plugin when an authenticated WordPress user visits the page. Successful exploitation requires user interaction and yields limited integrity impact without exposing confidential data. The issue is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Critical Impact
Attackers can trick authenticated WordPress administrators into executing unauthorized plugin actions by luring them to a malicious page, resulting in unintended state changes within the WP Tools plugin.
Affected Products
- sminozzi WP Tools (wptools) WordPress plugin
- All versions from initial release through 5.24
- WordPress sites with the WP Tools plugin installed and active
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-06 - CVE-2025-49273 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-49273
Vulnerability Analysis
The WP Tools plugin exposes one or more state-changing endpoints that lack sufficient anti-CSRF protections. Standard WordPress mitigations for CSRF rely on nonce tokens generated with wp_create_nonce() and validated via check_admin_referer() or wp_verify_nonce(). When these checks are missing or improperly enforced, the browser of an authenticated user will attach session cookies to any forged request, enabling unauthorized actions.
Exploitation requires an authenticated victim, typically an administrator, to visit a page controlled by the attacker. The forged request executes with the victim's privileges against the target WordPress site. The scope is limited to integrity effects, with no direct information disclosure or denial of service according to the CVSS vector. The EPSS percentile places this issue in the lower tier of predicted exploitation likelihood.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or improperly validated CSRF tokens on privileged plugin actions in wptools versions up to 5.24. The plugin relies on cookie-based authentication without verifying request origin or a per-session token, allowing cross-origin requests to be processed as legitimate.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is network-based with low complexity and requires user interaction. An attacker hosts a malicious HTML page containing an auto-submitting form or JavaScript fetch() call targeting a vulnerable WP Tools endpoint. When an authenticated WordPress user loads the page, the browser submits the request with valid session cookies, causing the plugin to perform the attacker-chosen action. No credentials are required from the attacker. Technical details are documented in the Patchstack WP Tools CSRF advisory.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-49273
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected configuration changes in the WP Tools plugin settings without corresponding administrator activity in audit logs
- HTTP POST or GET requests to wptools admin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external, untrusted domains
- Administrator sessions initiating plugin state changes immediately after visiting external URLs
Detection Strategies
- Inspect WordPress access logs for requests to WP Tools admin action URLs that lack a same-origin Referer header or plugin nonce parameter
- Monitor plugin configuration and options tables (wp_options) for unexplained modifications tied to wptools
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that flags cross-origin state-changing requests to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=wptools* or related plugin routes
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable WordPress audit logging plugins to capture the source, user, and referer of every administrative action
- Correlate browser history or proxy logs of privileged users with observed plugin configuration changes
- Alert on plugin file or database modifications that occur outside scheduled maintenance windows
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-49273
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the WP Tools plugin to a version later than 5.24 once the vendor publishes a patched release
- Restrict administrative access to the WordPress backend using IP allowlists or VPN gateways until patched
- Instruct administrators to log out of WordPress before browsing untrusted sites and to use a dedicated browser profile for admin work
Patch Information
No fixed version was identified in the enriched CVE data at the time of publication. Monitor the Patchstack advisory for WP Tools and the plugin's WordPress.org page for a security update addressing the missing CSRF token validation. If no patch is available, consider deactivating the plugin.
Workarounds
- Deactivate the wptools plugin until a fixed release is available
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that enforces same-origin Referer checks on all wptools admin endpoints
- Require administrators to authenticate through a reverse proxy that strips or blocks cross-site POST requests to /wp-admin/
- Use browser isolation or a dedicated admin browser to prevent third-party site content from reaching authenticated WordPress sessions
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
