CVE-2025-7369 in WP Shortcodes Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/21/2025
The WP Shortcodes Plugin — Shortcodes Ultimate plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 7.4.2. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the preview function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes via a forged request, granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link. In combination with CVE-2025-7354, it leads to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/21/2025
The WP Shortcodes Plugin — Shortcodes Ultimate presents a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that affects all versions through 7.4.2, creating a significant security risk for WordPress installations. This vulnerability stems from inadequate nonce validation within the plugin's preview functionality, which serves as a fundamental security mechanism designed to prevent unauthorized requests. The absence of proper nonce verification allows attackers to craft malicious requests that can be executed without the administrator's knowledge or consent, effectively bypassing the authentication and authorization controls that should protect the WordPress admin interface.
The technical flaw manifests specifically in the preview function's handling of user requests, where the plugin fails to validate the authenticity of incoming requests through proper nonce checks. This weakness creates a pathway for unauthenticated attackers to leverage the preview functionality as an attack vector, enabling them to execute arbitrary shortcodes within the context of an authenticated administrator session. The vulnerability operates under the principle that administrators are often tricked into performing actions through social engineering techniques such as clicking malicious links or visiting compromised websites, making it particularly dangerous in real-world scenarios.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can be exploited to perform administrative actions that may lead to complete compromise of the WordPress installation. When combined with CVE-2025-7354, which introduces reflected cross-site scripting capabilities, the attack surface expands significantly, allowing attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of the administrator's browser session. This combination creates a powerful attack chain where CSRF can be used to establish a foothold, while XSS can be leveraged to extract session cookies or perform additional malicious activities.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and proper input validation, aligning with CWE-352 which addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities. The attack pattern follows typical CSRF methodologies documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the technique of privilege escalation through web application vulnerabilities. Organizations using this plugin must implement immediate mitigations including updating to the latest version, implementing proper nonce validation, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests. Additionally, administrative users should be trained to recognize social engineering attempts and avoid clicking untrusted links, while security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative activities that may indicate exploitation attempts.
The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper security validation mechanisms in WordPress plugins, particularly those with administrative functionality. The lack of nonce verification in the preview function represents a fundamental security flaw that undermines the integrity of the entire WordPress security model. This issue highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of plugin components, especially those that interact with administrative functions, and reinforces the necessity of maintaining up-to-date software versions to protect against known vulnerabilities. Organizations should conduct immediate security assessments to identify installations affected by this vulnerability and implement layered defensive measures to protect against both CSRF and XSS exploitation techniques.