CVE-2025-49238 in Everest Backup Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/06/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in everestthemes Everest Backup allows Cross Site Request Forgery. This issue affects Everest Backup: from n/a through 2.3.3.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/06/2025
The CVE-2025-49238 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the everestthemes Everest Backup plugin, which operates as a backup solution for wordpress environments. This vulnerability exists in versions ranging from an unspecified initial version through 2.3.3, creating a persistent security risk for affected systems. The flaw enables attackers to exploit the plugin's lack of proper authentication mechanisms, allowing unauthorized actions to be executed on behalf of authenticated users. The vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-csrf tokens or other protective measures that would normally validate the legitimacy of requests originating from the intended user interface.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs at the web application level where the Everest Backup plugin fails to properly verify the source of requests made to its administrative functions. When a user accesses the backup plugin interface, the application should validate that requests are originating from legitimate sources within the same domain and session context. However, without proper csrf token validation or referer header checks, malicious actors can construct crafted requests that appear to originate from authenticated users. This flaw directly maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through spearphishing attachments. The vulnerability particularly affects wordpress installations where the plugin is active and properly configured, creating an attack surface that can be exploited by remote threat actors.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure to encompass potential system compromise and unauthorized administrative access. An attacker could leverage this flaw to perform backup operations without proper authorization, potentially leading to data exfiltration or system manipulation through backup restoration processes. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple versions suggests a fundamental design flaw in the plugin's security architecture rather than a temporary coding error, making it particularly concerning for organizations maintaining multiple installations. This CSRF weakness could enable attackers to execute malicious backup operations, manipulate backup schedules, or even restore compromised backups to overwrite legitimate system data, creating cascading effects throughout the target environment.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both immediate protection and long-term architectural improvements within the Everest Backup plugin. Organizations should implement immediate patches or updates from the plugin vendor once available, while also considering temporary network-level protections such as implementing web application firewalls with csrf detection capabilities. The solution requires the implementation of anti-csrf tokens for all administrative functions within the plugin, proper referer header validation, and implementation of same-site cookies for request origin verification. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all installed plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities, as this flaw demonstrates a common pattern in wordpress plugin security implementations. Additionally, organizations should enforce strict access controls and monitoring of backup-related activities to detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that csrf protections do not break legitimate functionality while providing adequate security coverage for all user interactions with the backup plugin interface.