CVE-2025-31456
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Ultimate Security Checker WordPress plugin allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into performing unauthorized security rescans. This affects WordPress sites using Ultimate Security Checker versions up to 4.2. The vulnerability requires an admin to be tricked into clicking a malicious link while authenticated.
💻 Affected Systems
- Ultimate Security Checker 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
An attacker could trigger repeated security scans that consume server resources, potentially causing denial of service or interfering with legitimate security monitoring.
Likely Case
Attackers could force unnecessary security rescans, wasting server resources and potentially disrupting normal plugin operations.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections, no unauthorized actions can be performed even if an admin clicks a malicious link.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick an authenticated admin into clicking a malicious link or visiting a compromised page.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.3 or later
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find Ultimate Security Checker and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify plugin version is 4.3 or higher.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Plugin Deactivation
allDisable the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate ultimate-security-checker
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls limiting admin panel access to trusted networks only
- Use browser extensions that block CSRF attempts or enforce same-origin policies
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Ultimate Security Checker versionCheck Version:
wp plugin get ultimate-security-checker --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 4.3 or higher in WordPress admin📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual frequency of security scan requests from single admin sessions
- Security scan requests without corresponding admin UI interactions
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=ultimate_security_checker_rescan from unexpected referrers
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "ultimate_security_checker_rescan" AND NOT referer="*wp-admin*"