CVE-2025-25153
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Simple Auto Tag WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using Simple Auto Tag plugin versions up to 1.1. Attackers can trick authenticated administrators into executing malicious actions that inject persistent scripts.
💻 Affected Systems
- Simple Auto Tag 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 posts/pages, leading to session hijacking or defacement for visitors.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections and content security policies, the attack surface is reduced, though the vulnerability still exists in the codebase.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick authenticated users, but the technical execution is straightforward once the user is lured.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 1.1 (check plugin repository for latest)
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find Simple Auto Tag and click 'Update Now' if available. 4. If no update is available, deactivate and delete the plugin, then find a secure alternative.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Tokens Manually
WordPressAdd nonce verification to plugin forms if you have development access.
Not applicable - requires code modification
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable or remove the Simple Auto Tag plugin immediately.
- Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS impact.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Simple Auto Tag version 1.1 or earlier.Check Version:
wp plugin list --name=simple-auto-tag --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is higher than 1.1 after update, or confirm plugin is removed.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php or admin-post.php involving simple-auto-tag actions
- Unexpected script tags in post/page content
Network Indicators:
- CSRF attack patterns with missing referrer headers or nonce tokens
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("simple-auto-tag" OR "admin-ajax.php") AND status=200