CVE-2025-52794: Creative Contact Form CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-52794 Overview

CVE-2025-52794 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Creative Contact Form WordPress plugin (sexy-contact-form) by Creative-Solutions. This vulnerability enables attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users, which can subsequently lead to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. The combination of CSRF and Stored XSS creates a particularly dangerous attack chain that can compromise WordPress site administrators and their visitors.

Critical Impact

This CSRF-to-Stored-XSS vulnerability chain allows attackers to inject persistent malicious scripts into the WordPress site by tricking authenticated administrators into performing unintended actions, potentially compromising all site visitors.

Affected Products

• Creative Contact Form WordPress Plugin (sexy-contact-form) version 1.0.0 and earlier
• WordPress installations using the vulnerable plugin versions

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-06-20 - CVE-2025-52794 published to NVD
• 2026-04-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-52794

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a chained attack scenario combining CSRF and Stored XSS weaknesses. The Creative Contact Form plugin fails to implement proper CSRF token validation on form submission endpoints, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, inject persistent XSS payloads into the WordPress database.

The absence of nonce verification means that state-changing requests to the plugin's administrative functions can be forged by external websites. When an administrator visits a malicious page while authenticated to their WordPress dashboard, the attacker-controlled page can submit requests to the vulnerable plugin endpoints without the administrator's knowledge or consent.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the plugin's failure to implement WordPress nonce verification (wp_nonce_field() and wp_verify_nonce()) on administrative form handlers. Additionally, the plugin does not properly sanitize and escape user-supplied input before storing it in the database or rendering it in administrative pages, enabling the Stored XSS component of the attack.

This represents a violation of CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery), where the web application does not sufficiently verify whether a well-formed, valid, consistent request was intentionally provided by the authenticated user.

Attack Vector

An attacker exploits this vulnerability by crafting a malicious webpage containing hidden form submissions or JavaScript-initiated requests targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoints. The attack proceeds as follows:

1. The attacker identifies the vulnerable administrative endpoints in the Creative Contact Form plugin
2. A malicious webpage is created containing forged requests with XSS payloads in form field values
3. The attacker tricks a logged-in WordPress administrator into visiting the malicious page
4. The forged request is automatically submitted to the WordPress site using the administrator's authenticated session
5. The XSS payload is stored in the database and executed whenever the affected page is viewed

The stored XSS component means the malicious script persists in the database and will execute for any user who views the affected content, potentially leading to session hijacking, administrative account compromise, or further malware distribution to site visitors.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-52794

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected or suspicious JavaScript code appearing in contact form configurations or stored form data
• Unusual administrative actions in WordPress audit logs that the administrator does not recall performing
• Malicious <script> tags or event handlers (e.g., onerror, onload) within plugin database entries
• Reports of browser warnings or unexpected redirects when users visit pages containing the contact form

Detection Strategies

• Review WordPress database tables associated with the Creative Contact Form plugin for unexpected HTML or JavaScript content
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block requests containing XSS payloads targeting the plugin endpoints
• Monitor for unusual patterns in HTTP requests to WordPress administrative endpoints, particularly those without valid nonce tokens
• Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to detect and report inline script execution attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable and regularly review WordPress security audit logs for administrative actions related to the Creative Contact Form plugin
• Configure server-side logging to capture all POST requests to the vulnerable plugin endpoints
• Set up alerts for any modifications to plugin settings or stored form data outside of normal administrative workflows
• Monitor client-side error reports for CSP violations that may indicate XSS execution attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-52794

Immediate Actions Required

• Immediately deactivate and remove the Creative Contact Form (sexy-contact-form) plugin from all WordPress installations
• Audit all stored data associated with the plugin for potential XSS payloads and sanitize any suspicious content
• Review WordPress audit logs for any unauthorized administrative changes that may have occurred through CSRF exploitation
• Consider using alternative, actively maintained contact form plugins with proper security controls

Patch Information

No official patch is currently available for this vulnerability. The affected plugin (Creative Contact Form version 1.0.0 and earlier) should be considered insecure and removed from production environments. For detailed vulnerability information, refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Workarounds

• Remove the vulnerable plugin entirely and migrate to a secure, actively maintained alternative contact form solution
• If immediate removal is not possible, restrict access to the WordPress administrative dashboard to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules specifically targeting CSRF and XSS attack patterns
• Deploy Content Security Policy headers to mitigate the impact of any stored XSS payloads

# WordPress CLI command to deactivate the vulnerable plugin
wp plugin deactivate sexy-contact-form --path=/var/www/html/wordpress

# Remove the plugin completely
wp plugin delete sexy-contact-form --path=/var/www/html/wordpress

# Search database for potential XSS payloads (adjust table prefix as needed)
wp db query "SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_value LIKE '%<script%' OR option_value LIKE '%javascript:%';" --path=/var/www/html/wordpress