CVE-2025-25140
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WordPress Simple User Profile plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using Simple User Profile plugin versions up to 1.9. Attackers can trick authenticated administrators into executing malicious actions that inject persistent scripts.
💻 Affected Systems
- WordPress Simple User Profile 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, redirects users to malicious sites, or takes full control of the WordPress site when administrators view affected pages.
Likely Case
Attackers create fake forms or links that trick logged-in administrators into unknowingly submitting malicious content, leading to persistent script injection in user profiles or other plugin areas.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF tokens and input validation, the attack chain is broken, preventing unauthorized actions even if administrators click malicious links.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick authenticated users. The CSRF leads to stored XSS, making it a two-stage attack.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 1.9 (check plugin repository for latest)
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Simple User Profile' and click 'Update Now' if available. 4. If no update appears, deactivate and delete the plugin, then install the latest version from WordPress repository.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Plugin Deactivation
WordPressDisable the Simple User Profile plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate simple-user-profile
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS impact
- Use browser extensions that block CSRF attempts or enforce same-origin policies
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Simple User Profile version. If version is 1.9 or earlier, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get simple-user-profile --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify the plugin version is higher than 1.9 in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to user profile endpoints without referrer headers
- Multiple failed CSRF token validations in WordPress debug logs
Network Indicators:
- Suspicious cross-origin requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php or profile update endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("csrf" OR "nonce" FAILED) AND "simple-user-profile"