CVE-2025-54035 in Newsletters Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/16/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Tribulant Software Newsletters allows Cross Site Request Forgery. This issue affects Newsletters: from n/a through 4.10.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/16/2025
The CVE-2025-54035 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Tribulant Software Newsletters plugin, a widely used WordPress newsletter management solution. This vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation in the plugin's administrative interfaces. The flaw affects all versions from the initial release through 4.10, indicating a long-standing security gap that has persisted across multiple iterations of the software. The vulnerability exposes the plugin's administrative functions to unauthorized manipulation by malicious actors who can forge requests from authenticated user sessions.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs through the absence of anti-CSRF tokens in critical administrative endpoints within the newsletters plugin. When administrators perform actions such as creating newsletter campaigns, modifying subscriber lists, or configuring plugin settings, these operations lack proper origin validation or token verification mechanisms. Attackers can exploit this by crafting malicious web pages or emails that, when visited by authenticated administrators, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable plugin endpoints. The vulnerability specifically targets the plugin's administrative interface where users have elevated privileges, making the potential impact significantly more severe than typical CSRF attacks against user-facing interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially compromise the entire newsletter distribution system and associated user data. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability could gain unauthorized access to subscriber databases, modify campaign configurations, disable email delivery, or even inject malicious content into newsletter distributions. This creates a substantial risk for organizations relying on the plugin for email marketing and communication, as compromised newsletters could be used to distribute phishing content or malicious links. The vulnerability also poses risks to email deliverability and brand reputation, as malicious actors could manipulate the newsletter system to send spam or phishing emails on behalf of the legitimate organization.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest available version of the Tribulant Software Newsletters plugin where the CSRF protection has been addressed. System administrators should also consider implementing additional security measures such as network-level firewalls to restrict access to administrative interfaces, implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, and establishing monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized administrative activities. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses in web applications, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege as outlined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation category. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all installed WordPress plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities and ensure that all administrative interfaces properly implement CSRF protection mechanisms.