CVE-2025-25147
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Phillip.Gooch Auto SEO WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using Auto SEO plugin versions up to 2.5.6. Attackers can trick authenticated administrators into executing malicious actions that inject persistent scripts.
💻 Affected Systems
- Phillip.Gooch Auto SEO 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, redirects users to malicious sites, or takes full control of the WordPress site when administrators view compromised pages.
Likely Case
Attackers create fake requests that trick logged-in administrators into unknowingly adding malicious scripts to pages, leading to session hijacking or defacement for visitors.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections and input validation, the attack chain is broken, preventing script injection even if administrators are tricked.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick authenticated administrators into clicking malicious links while logged into WordPress.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 2.5.6
Vendor Advisory: https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/auto-seo/vulnerability/wordpress-auto-seo-plugin-2-5-6-csrf-to-stored-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Auto SEO' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update available. 5. If no update appears, manually download latest version from WordPress repository and replace plugin files.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Protection
allAdd nonce verification to all plugin forms and AJAX requests to prevent CSRF attacks.
Disable Plugin Temporarily
WordPress CLIDeactivate Auto SEO plugin until patched if immediate update not possible.
wp plugin deactivate auto-seo
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Remove the Auto SEO plugin completely and use alternative SEO solutions.
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block suspicious POST requests to plugin endpoints.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Auto SEO version. If version is 2.5.6 or earlier, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get auto-seo --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify Auto SEO plugin version shows higher than 2.5.6 in WordPress plugins list.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints from unexpected referrers
- Multiple failed nonce verification attempts in WordPress debug logs
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing suspicious JavaScript payloads in POST parameters to plugin endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("auto-seo" OR "admin-ajax") AND (POST AND referer NOT CONTAINS yourdomain.com)