CVE-2025-6055 Overview
CVE-2025-6055 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Zen Sticky Social plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 0.3. The flaw stems from missing or incorrect nonce validation on the zen-social-sticky/zen-sticky-social.php page. Unauthenticated attackers can update plugin settings and inject malicious web scripts by tricking a site administrator into clicking a crafted link. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Critical Impact
Successful exploitation enables attackers to modify plugin settings and inject stored scripts that execute in the browsers of site visitors and administrators.
Affected Products
- Zen Sticky Social plugin for WordPress, versions up to and including 0.3
- WordPress sites with the plugin activated and administrator access enabled
- Any WordPress installation exposing the plugin settings page to authenticated administrator sessions
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-14 - CVE-2025-6055 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-6055
Vulnerability Analysis
The Zen Sticky Social plugin exposes a settings handler in zen-sticky-social.php that processes administrator-submitted configuration changes. The handler does not verify a valid WordPress nonce token before accepting POST data. Because request authenticity is not enforced, any request carrying the administrator's session cookies is treated as legitimate. An attacker can host a page that automatically submits a forged POST to the plugin endpoint. When an authenticated administrator visits the attacker-controlled page, their browser silently submits the request. The attacker uses this primitive to inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript into plugin-rendered output, converting the CSRF into a stored script injection primitive.
Root Cause
The root cause is the absence of a wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer() call in the settings save routine of zen-sticky-social.php. Without server-side verification of a same-origin token, the plugin cannot distinguish administrator-initiated form submissions from forged cross-origin requests.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires user interaction from an authenticated administrator. The attacker crafts a malicious HTML page containing an auto-submitting form or fetch request targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoint. The administrator must be lured to the page through phishing, a comment link, or a compromised third-party site. Once loaded, the browser sends the forged request with the administrator's cookies, and the plugin persists the attacker-supplied payload. Refer to the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the WordPress Plugin Source Code for the affected code path.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-6055
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to Zen Sticky Social plugin option rows in the wp_options table
- Presence of <script> tags or unusual HTML in plugin configuration fields intended for social URLs
- Administrator sessions with recent POST requests to zen-sticky-social.php originating from external Referer headers
Detection Strategies
- Review web server access logs for POST requests to the plugin settings page lacking a same-origin Referer or Origin header
- Audit plugin configuration values for HTML or JavaScript content that does not match expected URL formats
- Compare current plugin option values against known-good backups to identify unauthorized changes
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a Web Application Firewall rule that flags cross-origin POSTs to /wp-admin/ endpoints associated with the plugin
- Monitor for anomalous outbound script loads from pages rendering the sticky social widget
- Alert on administrator account activity that immediately follows navigation to untrusted external domains
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-6055
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the Zen Sticky Social plugin until a patched release is confirmed available
- Audit plugin settings for injected scripts and restore known-good values
- Instruct administrators to log out of WordPress sessions before browsing untrusted sites
Patch Information
At the time of publication, no fixed version beyond 0.3 has been referenced in the advisory. Site owners should monitor the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the plugin repository for an updated release that adds wp_verify_nonce() validation to the settings handler.
Workarounds
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by IP address using web server ACLs or a reverse proxy
- Deploy a WAF rule that rejects POST requests to the plugin endpoint without a valid same-origin Referer
- Require administrators to use a dedicated browser profile for WordPress administration to isolate cookies from general browsing
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
