CVE-2025-46452
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Olav Kolbu Google News WordPress plugin allows attackers to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This affects WordPress sites using the Google News plugin from all versions up to and including 2.5.1. Attackers can inject malicious scripts that execute when other users view affected pages.
💻 Affected Systems
- Olav Kolbu Google News 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 persistent malicious scripts that steal administrator credentials, deface websites, redirect visitors to malicious sites, or install backdoors on the WordPress installation.
Likely Case
Attackers inject malicious JavaScript that steals session cookies or credentials from logged-in users, potentially compromising administrator accounts.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections and input validation, the vulnerability would be prevented, limiting impact to minor configuration changes at most.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious pages, but the CSRF-to-XSS chain is straightforward once initial access is achieved.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.5.2 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/google-news/vulnerability/wordpress-google-news-plugin-2-5-1-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 'Google News' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available. 5. If no update appears, manually download version 2.5.2+ from WordPress.org and replace plugin files.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Plugin Deactivation
allDisable the Google News plugin until patched to prevent exploitation.
wp plugin deactivate google-news
CSRF Protection Implementation
allAdd custom CSRF tokens to plugin forms if you cannot update immediately.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable the Google News plugin completely.
- Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious POST requests to the plugin's admin endpoints.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Google News version. If version is 2.5.1 or earlier, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get google-news --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify Google News plugin version shows 2.5.2 or higher in WordPress admin.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=google-news with suspicious parameters
- Multiple failed CSRF token validations in WordPress debug logs
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected JavaScript payloads in HTTP POST parameters to plugin endpoints
- Cross-origin requests to plugin admin pages without proper referrer headers
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("google-news" AND "admin.php") AND ("POST" AND ("script" OR "javascript" OR "onerror"))