CVE-2025-23513
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Joshua Wieczorek Bible Embed WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using Bible Embed plugin versions up to 0.0.4. Attackers can trick authenticated administrators into executing malicious actions that inject persistent scripts.
💻 Affected Systems
- Joshua Wieczorek Bible Embed WordPress Plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could inject malicious JavaScript that steals administrator credentials, defaces websites, or installs backdoors when administrators view compromised pages.
Likely Case
Attackers create fake forms or links that trick logged-in administrators into unknowingly injecting malicious scripts into plugin content, leading to session hijacking or content manipulation.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF tokens and input validation, the attack fails, preventing unauthorized script injection.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick an authenticated administrator into clicking a malicious link or form.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 0.0.4
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Bible Embed' and update to the latest version. 4. If no update is available, deactivate and delete the plugin.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Protection
allAdd nonce (number used once) tokens to all plugin forms and AJAX requests to validate user intent.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable or remove the Bible Embed plugin from WordPress.
- Restrict plugin access to trusted administrators only and monitor for suspicious activity.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel under Plugins > Installed Plugins for Bible Embed version 0.0.4 or earlier.Check Version:
wp plugin list --name=bible-embed --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm the plugin version is updated beyond 0.0.4 in the WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to Bible Embed plugin endpoints without referrer headers or CSRF tokens.
- Administrator accounts performing unexpected plugin actions.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with suspicious parameters targeting /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints.
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND (uri_path="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" OR plugin="bible-embed") AND (http_method="POST" AND NOT csrf_token=*)