CVE-2025-53331 Overview
CVE-2025-53331 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WordPress RSS Digest plugin developed by samcharrington. The flaw affects all versions of RSS Digest up to and including 1.5. Attackers can chain the CSRF weakness with Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) to inject persistent malicious scripts into the affected WordPress site. Successful exploitation requires an authenticated administrator to interact with an attacker-controlled link or page. The Common Weakness Enumeration classification is CWE-352, Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Critical Impact
An attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged request that stores malicious JavaScript in the WordPress site, leading to session hijacking, content manipulation, or further compromise of site visitors.
Affected Products
- samcharrington RSS Digest WordPress plugin (rss-digest)
- All versions from initial release through 1.5
- WordPress installations with the RSS Digest plugin active
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-27 - CVE-2025-53331 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-53331
Vulnerability Analysis
The RSS Digest plugin fails to validate the origin of state-changing HTTP requests. Administrative actions that modify plugin settings do not verify a WordPress nonce or equivalent anti-CSRF token. An attacker who lures an authenticated administrator to a malicious page can have the browser submit a forged request to the WordPress site. The forged request stores attacker-supplied content in plugin configuration without sanitization, producing a Stored XSS condition.
The combined CSRF and Stored XSS chain expands the impact beyond a single victim. Any visitor who loads a page rendering the injected payload executes attacker-controlled JavaScript in the browser. This script runs under the origin of the WordPress site and inherits the victim's cookies and session context.
Root Cause
The vulnerability stems from two missing controls. First, the plugin omits CSRF protections such as wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() on state-changing endpoints. Second, the plugin does not escape stored input before rendering it in HTML output, which allows JavaScript payloads to persist and execute.
Attack Vector
Exploitation occurs over the network and requires user interaction from a privileged WordPress user. The attacker hosts a page containing an auto-submitting form or image tag that targets the vulnerable plugin endpoint. When the administrator visits the page while authenticated to WordPress, the browser includes session cookies and the malicious request executes. The payload is stored in plugin data and rendered to subsequent visitors. The scope is changed because the injected script can affect users beyond the original administrator.
No public proof-of-concept exploit is available, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. See the Patchstack CSRF Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-53331
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags, event handlers, or javascript: URIs stored in RSS Digest plugin options within the wp_options table
- WordPress access logs showing administrator POST requests to rss-digest plugin endpoints with Referer headers pointing to external domains
- New or modified administrator accounts created shortly after suspicious admin-area traffic
Detection Strategies
- Audit the wp_options table for rows associated with the rss-digest plugin and inspect values for HTML or JavaScript content
- Review web server logs for POST requests to plugin administration URLs that lack an internal Referer header
- Monitor browser console errors and Content Security Policy violations on pages where RSS Digest output is rendered
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable WordPress audit logging to track plugin setting changes and tie events to authenticated user sessions
- Alert on outbound script loads from WordPress pages to untrusted third-party domains
- Track installed plugin versions across the estate and flag any host running RSS Digest 1.5 or earlier
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-53331
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the RSS Digest plugin until a patched version is published by the maintainer
- Inspect plugin-related entries in wp_options and remove any unauthorized HTML or JavaScript content
- Rotate WordPress administrator credentials and invalidate active sessions if Stored XSS execution is suspected
Patch Information
At the time of publication, no fixed version of the RSS Digest plugin has been identified in the available references. The vulnerability affects all versions through 1.5. Administrators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the WordPress plugin repository for an updated release.
Workarounds
- Remove the rss-digest plugin directory from wp-content/plugins/ to prevent any code execution
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/ using IP allowlisting at the web server or WAF layer to reduce CSRF exposure
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that enforces same-origin Referer and Origin headers on WordPress administrative POST requests
- Apply a Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on the WordPress front end to reduce Stored XSS impact
# Configuration example: disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate rss-digest
wp plugin delete rss-digest
# Audit stored options for injected script content
wp db query "SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%rss_digest%';"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
