CVE-2025-23898
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability in the Apply with LinkedIn buttons WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting attacks. This affects WordPress sites using the plugin versions up to 2.3, potentially compromising site visitors and administrators.
💻 Affected Systems
- Apply with LinkedIn buttons 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 scripts that execute in visitors' browsers, leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or complete site takeover.
Likely Case
Attackers inject malicious JavaScript that steals cookies or session tokens from logged-in users, potentially compromising admin accounts.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections and content security policies, the attack surface is significantly reduced to low-risk information disclosure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious pages while logged into WordPress.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 2.3
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Apply with LinkedIn buttons'. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. If no update available, deactivate and remove the plugin.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF tokens
allAdd CSRF protection to all form submissions and AJAX requests in the plugin
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict CSP headers to prevent script execution from unauthorized sources
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Deactivate and remove the Apply with LinkedIn buttons plugin immediately
- Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious form submissions
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for 'Apply with LinkedIn buttons' version 2.3 or earlierCheck Version:
wp plugin list --name='apply-with-linkedin-buttons' --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is greater than 2.3 or plugin is completely removed📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints
- Multiple failed CSRF token validations
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected JavaScript payloads in form submissions
- Cross-origin requests to plugin endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress" AND (uri_path="*admin-ajax.php*" OR uri_path="*apply-with-linkedin*") AND http_method="POST" AND NOT user_agent="*bot*"