CVE-2025-49977: WP Inventory Manager CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-49977 Overview

CVE-2025-49977 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the WP Inventory Manager plugin for WordPress. The flaw impacts all versions up to and including 2.3.4. An attacker can trick an authenticated user into submitting forged requests that perform unintended state-changing actions within the plugin.

The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-352, which covers missing or improperly implemented anti-CSRF protections. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically by luring a logged-in user to a malicious page.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to perform unauthorized inventory management actions on behalf of authenticated WordPress users through forged HTTP requests.

Affected Products

WP Inventory Manager plugin for WordPress
All versions from n/a through 2.3.4
WordPress sites using the wp-inventory-manager plugin

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-20 - CVE-2025-49977 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-49977

Vulnerability Analysis

The WP Inventory Manager plugin fails to properly validate the origin of state-changing HTTP requests. The plugin does not enforce anti-CSRF tokens (WordPress nonces) on sensitive actions. This allows an attacker-controlled page to submit requests that the target's browser will send with valid authentication cookies.

The attack vector is network-based and requires user interaction. The impact is limited to integrity of plugin data, with no direct confidentiality or availability impact according to the CVSS vector. The vulnerability affects any WordPress site running the plugin at version 2.3.4 or earlier.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing CSRF protection on plugin endpoints that modify server state. WordPress provides the wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() primitives to prevent CSRF, but the affected code paths in wp-inventory-manager do not consistently apply these checks. Without a request-bound token, the server cannot distinguish legitimate user submissions from forged cross-origin requests.

Attack Vector

An attacker crafts a malicious webpage containing an auto-submitting form or JavaScript that targets a vulnerable WP Inventory Manager endpoint. When an authenticated administrator or privileged user visits the attacker's page, the browser attaches valid session cookies to the forged request. The WordPress backend processes the request as if it originated from the legitimate user, causing unauthorized inventory modifications.

No public proof-of-concept exploit code is currently available. Refer to the Patchstack advisory for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-49977

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected changes to inventory records, item counts, or plugin configuration without a corresponding admin audit entry.
HTTP POST requests to wp-inventory-manager endpoints containing an external or missing Referer header.
Requests to plugin admin actions without an accompanying _wpnonce parameter.

Detection Strategies

Review web server access logs for cross-origin Referer values on requests targeting /wp-admin/admin.php?page=wp_inventory and related plugin URLs.
Correlate authenticated user sessions with unusual state-changing requests submitted immediately after visits to untrusted external domains.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set that flags WordPress admin POST requests lacking valid nonce parameters.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging to capture all plugin configuration and data changes with user attribution.
Alert on administrative actions performed outside of normal working hours or from unexpected IP addresses.
Monitor for browser sessions where admin actions follow shortly after navigation to external referrers.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-49977

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all WordPress installations running the WP Inventory Manager plugin at version 2.3.4 or earlier.
Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by IP allowlist where operationally feasible until a patched version is deployed.
Require administrators to log out of WordPress before browsing untrusted sites, and enforce short session lifetimes.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the vendor has not confirmed a fixed release beyond version 2.3.4. Monitor the Patchstack advisory and the plugin's WordPress.org listing for an updated release that adds nonce verification to affected endpoints.

Workarounds

Deactivate and remove the WP Inventory Manager plugin until a patched version is available.
Deploy a WAF rule blocking POST requests to plugin endpoints that lack a valid _wpnonce parameter or contain an external Referer.
Enforce SameSite=Strict or SameSite=Lax attributes on WordPress authentication cookies to reduce cross-origin request risk.

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) blocking cross-origin POSTs to the plugin
SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "@streq POST" \
  "chain,phase:2,deny,status:403,id:1004977,msg:'CVE-2025-49977 CSRF block'"
  SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains wp-inventory" \
    "chain"
    SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@beginsWith https://your-site.example/"