CVE-2025-49354
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WordPress Recent Posts From Each Category plugin allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute when administrators view plugin settings. This affects WordPress sites using the plugin version 1.4 or earlier, potentially compromising administrator accounts and site visitors.
💻 Affected Systems
- WordPress Recent Posts From Each Category 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 hijack administrator sessions, inject persistent malicious scripts across the website, steal sensitive data, deface the site, or install backdoors for further compromise.
Likely Case
Attackers trick administrators into executing actions that inject malicious JavaScript, leading to session hijacking, data theft, or unauthorized content modification.
If Mitigated
With proper CSRF protections and input validation, the vulnerability would be prevented, limiting impact to failed exploitation attempts.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires tricking an authenticated administrator into clicking a malicious link or visiting a crafted page. CSRF to Stored XSS chain makes weaponization likely.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.5 or later
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Recent Posts From Each Category' and update to version 1.5 or later. 4. If update not available, deactivate and delete the plugin.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allDeactivate the plugin to prevent exploitation while awaiting patch
wp plugin deactivate recent-posts-from-each-category
Implement CSRF protection headers
allAdd Content-Security-Policy headers to mitigate XSS
Add to .htaccess: Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"
Add to nginx config: add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'";
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict administrator access to trusted networks only
- Implement web application firewall rules to block CSRF attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for 'Recent Posts From Each Category' version 1.4 or earlierCheck Version:
wp plugin get recent-posts-from-each-category --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 1.5 or later in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to wp-admin/admin.php?page=recent-posts-from-each-category
- JavaScript injection patterns in plugin settings
Network Indicators:
- CSRF token missing in requests to plugin admin endpoints
- Unexpected redirects from external sites to admin pages
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND (uri="/wp-admin/admin.php?page=recent-posts-from-each-category" AND method="POST" AND referer NOT CONTAINS site_domain)