CVE-2025-1509
📋 TL;DR
The Show Me The Cookies WordPress plugin allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes due to improper input validation. This affects all WordPress sites using plugin versions up to and including 1.0. Attackers can leverage WordPress shortcodes to potentially execute code or access restricted functionality.
💻 Affected Systems
- Show Me The Cookies WordPress Plugin
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could execute arbitrary PHP code through shortcode injection, leading to complete site compromise, data theft, or malware installation.
Likely Case
Attackers will execute existing WordPress shortcodes to access restricted content, modify site behavior, or perform privilege escalation.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and shortcode filtering, impact is limited to executing only approved shortcodes with minimal damage.
🎯 Exploit Status
Attack requires sending crafted requests to vulnerable endpoints. No authentication needed.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 1.0
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/show-me-the-cookies/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Show Me The Cookies' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update available. 5. If no update, deactivate and delete plugin immediately.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Plugin
allDeactivate the vulnerable plugin to prevent exploitation
wp plugin deactivate show-me-the-cookies
Input Validation Filter
allAdd custom filter to validate shortcode execution
Add to theme functions.php: add_filter('do_shortcode_tag', 'validate_shortcode_execution', 10, 3);
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Deactivate and remove the Show Me The Cookies plugin immediately
- Implement web application firewall rules to block requests containing suspicious shortcode patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Show Me The Cookies. If version is 1.0 or lower, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get show-me-the-cookies --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After update, verify plugin version is higher than 1.0. Test shortcode execution with controlled payloads.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to WordPress endpoints
- Shortcode execution errors in WordPress debug logs
- Multiple failed shortcode execution attempts
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with crafted shortcode parameters
- Unusual traffic to plugin-specific endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("do_shortcode" OR "shortcode_atts") AND status=500