CVE-2025-49285 Overview
CVE-2025-49285 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability [CWE-352] in the WP Legal Pages WP Cookie Notice for GDPR, CCPA & ePrivacy Consent WordPress plugin, tracked under the slug gdpr-cookie-consent. The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 3.8.0. An attacker can craft a malicious request that, when triggered by an authenticated user visiting an attacker-controlled page, executes state-changing actions in the plugin without the user's consent. Exploitation requires user interaction but no privileges on the target site.
Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to trigger unauthorized plugin actions in the context of an authenticated administrator, potentially altering cookie consent configuration or related plugin settings.
Affected Products
- WP Legal Pages – WP Cookie Notice for GDPR, CCPA & ePrivacy Consent (gdpr-cookie-consent)
- All versions from n/a through 3.8.0
- WordPress installations using the vulnerable plugin
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-06 - CVE-2025-49285 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-49285
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability stems from missing or insufficient CSRF protections on state-changing endpoints in the gdpr-cookie-consent plugin. WordPress provides nonce APIs such as wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() to validate the origin of privileged requests. When these controls are absent or improperly implemented, an attacker can forge requests that the victim's browser submits automatically with valid session cookies.
The attack targets authenticated administrators of a WordPress site running the plugin. The Patchstack advisory categorizes this as a classic CSRF issue affecting plugin-controlled actions. Impact is limited to integrity, with no direct confidentiality loss and no availability degradation reported.
Root Cause
The root cause is a missing anti-CSRF token check on one or more request handlers exposed by the plugin. Without server-side validation of a unique per-session nonce, the plugin accepts requests solely on the basis of the victim's authenticated session cookie. Any origin capable of causing the browser to issue that request can therefore invoke the action.
Attack Vector
An attacker hosts a page containing a hidden form or image tag that submits a request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint. The attacker then lures an authenticated WordPress administrator to visit that page through phishing, forum posts, or malicious advertising. The victim's browser attaches the WordPress session cookie, and the plugin processes the request as if the administrator issued it. The vulnerability is network-reachable, requires user interaction, and needs no prior authentication on the attacker's side. Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for advisory details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-49285
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to gdpr-cookie-consent plugin settings or cookie categories in the WordPress admin interface.
- HTTP POST requests to plugin admin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external, untrusted domains.
- Administrator activity logs showing configuration changes at times inconsistent with normal admin behavior.
Detection Strategies
- Inspect web server access logs for requests to wp-admin/admin.php or admin-post.php targeting gdpr-cookie-consent actions without a valid nonce parameter.
- Correlate authenticated admin sessions with cross-origin Referer or Origin headers on state-changing requests.
- Deploy a WordPress activity or audit-log plugin to record plugin setting changes and the user account responsible.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on plugin configuration changes performed outside change-management windows.
- Monitor for administrator sessions issuing requests immediately after visiting external links.
- Track plugin version inventory across WordPress sites and flag any instance still running gdpr-cookie-consent at or below version 3.8.0.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-49285
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the gdpr-cookie-consent plugin to the version published after 3.8.0 that addresses this issue, as referenced in the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.
- Audit plugin settings and revert any unauthorized changes to cookie consent configuration.
- Instruct administrators to log out of the WordPress admin console when not actively performing administrative tasks.
Patch Information
WP Legal Pages has been notified through the Patchstack coordinated disclosure process. Administrators should install the vendor-supplied fixed release for gdpr-cookie-consent and verify that the installed version is greater than 3.8.0. Confirm the patch through the WordPress Plugins page or via WP-CLI with wp plugin list.
Workarounds
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/ to trusted IP addresses using web server or firewall rules until the plugin is updated.
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks requests to plugin endpoints when the Referer or Origin header does not match the site's own domain.
- Temporarily deactivate the gdpr-cookie-consent plugin if patching cannot be performed immediately and consent banners can be provided through an alternative mechanism.
# Update the vulnerable plugin using WP-CLI
wp plugin update gdpr-cookie-consent
wp plugin list --name=gdpr-cookie-consent --fields=name,status,version
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
