CVE-2025-31623
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the richtexteditor Rich Text Editor WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using the plugin from unknown versions through 1.0.1. Attackers can trick authenticated administrators into executing malicious actions that inject persistent scripts.
💻 Affected Systems
- richtexteditor Rich Text Editor 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, defaces websites, redirects visitors to malicious sites, or installs backdoors when administrators view compromised content.
Likely Case
Attackers create fake forms or links that trick logged-in administrators into unknowingly submitting requests that inject malicious scripts into website content, leading to session hijacking or malware distribution.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF tokens and input validation, the attack would fail as unauthorized requests would be rejected before reaching the vulnerable component.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick authenticated users. No public exploit code identified, but CSRF-to-XSS chain is well-documented.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Versions after 1.0.1
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Locate 'Rich Text Editor' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. If no update is available, deactivate and delete the plugin, then find a secure alternative.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Protection
WordPressAdd CSRF tokens to all form submissions and state-changing requests in the plugin code.
Requires code modification: Add nonce verification to plugin PHP files using wp_verify_nonce() and wp_create_nonce() functions.
Disable Plugin
WordPress CLITemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched.
wp plugin deactivate richtexteditor
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Remove the plugin completely and use an alternative rich text editor.
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block suspicious POST requests to plugin endpoints.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins for 'Rich Text Editor' with version 1.0.1 or lower.Check Version:
wp plugin get richtexteditor --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is higher than 1.0.1 in WordPress admin panel or check that plugin is removed.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints from unexpected referrers.
- Multiple failed CSRF token validations in WordPress debug logs.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing malicious script patterns in POST parameters to plugin endpoints.
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("admin-ajax.php" OR "richtexteditor") AND (POST AND NOT referer="*wp-admin*")