CVE-2025-67948

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-67948 is a medium-severity information disclosure vulnerability affecting the SendPulse Email Marketing Newsletter WordPress plugin, versions up to and including 2.2.1. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to retrieve embedded sensitive system information, such as internal paths, database credentials, or API keys, from the plugin’s configuration or debug output. This exposure can aid in further reconnaissance and targeted attacks against the WordPress instance.

Since this is a WordPress plugin vulnerability, the attack surface is limited to sites running the affected plugin. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) code or exploit templates are currently available, and the EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation activity. However, the lack of a patch from the vendor increases the risk for unmaintained installations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is specific to the WordPress plugin ecosystem. The plugin is distributed via the official WordPress Plugin Directory and may also be bundled in commercial themes or custom deployments. Administrators should verify the plugin version and consider disabling or replacing it if no patch is available.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – unauthenticated.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action needed.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – limited sensitive data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N) – no data modification.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – no denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. While the direct impact is limited to information disclosure, the exposed data can be leveraged for privilege escalation or lateral movement within the WordPress environment.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the plugin’s handling of debug or configuration endpoints. The plugin likely exposes internal system information via:

• Unauthenticated REST API endpoints that return environment variables or file paths.
• Debug mode output that includes database credentials or server paths.
• Direct access to PHP files that dump configuration arrays.

The exact vulnerable endpoint is not publicly documented, but based on the CWE-200 classification, the plugin fails to restrict access to sensitive data that should only be available to authenticated administrators. Attackers can craft HTTP requests to retrieve this data without any authentication.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the following illustrates the likely vulnerable pattern and a recommended fix:

Vulnerable Code (hypothetical):

// sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter/includes/class-debug.php
function expose_config() {
    if (isset($_GET['debug'])) {
        var_dump(get_option('sendpulse_settings'));
    }
}
add_action('init', 'expose_config');

Patched Code (recommended):

// sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter/includes/class-debug.php
function expose_config() {
    if (isset($_GET['debug']) && current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        var_dump(get_option('sendpulse_settings'));
    }
}
add_action('init', 'expose_config');

The fix adds a capability check (current_user_can('manage_options')) to ensure only administrators can access the debug output.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Setup:

1. Install WordPress 6.x on a local server (e.g., using Docker).
2. Install SendPulse Email Marketing Newsletter plugin version 2.2.1.
3. Activate the plugin and configure it with dummy API keys.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint by fuzzing common paths:

   curl -s "http://target/wp-content/plugins/sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter/includes/class-debug.php?debug=1"
   

2. Alternatively, probe for exposed configuration:

   curl -s "http://target/?rest_route=/sendpulse/v1/config"
   

3. Extract sensitive data from the response (e.g., database credentials, API keys).

No public exploit code is available. The above steps are based on common patterns for CWE-200 vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual HTTP requests to plugin-specific paths (e.g., /sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter/).
• Alert on requests containing debug=1 or similar parameters from unauthenticated users.
• Use WAF rules to block access to plugin debug endpoints.

Hunting:

• Search logs for GET requests to class-debug.php or sendpulse/v1/config.
• Check for anomalous response sizes that may indicate dumped configuration data.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• URL Patterns:
  • /wp-content/plugins/sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter/includes/class-debug.php?debug=1
  • /?rest_route=/sendpulse/v1/config
• Response Content: Plaintext output of PHP arrays containing sendpulse_settings, database credentials, or server paths.
• Log Entries: HTTP 200 responses to the above URLs from non-authenticated IPs.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_67948_SendPulse_InfoDisclosure {
    meta:
        description = "Detects attempts to exploit CVE-2025-67948 in SendPulse Email Marketing Newsletter plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-67948"
    strings:
        $debug_param = "debug=1"
        $plugin_path = "sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter"
        $config_dump = "sendpulse_settings"
    condition:
        any of ($debug_param, $plugin_path) and $config_dump
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-67948 SendPulse Plugin Information Disclosure
id: 8a3f7c2e-5d1b-4a9f-8c6e-2b3d1f0a9e7c
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests targeting SendPulse plugin debug endpoints
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter'
            - 'debug=1'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin debugging
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-67948 SendPulse Plugin Information Disclosure Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"GET"; http_method; content:"sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter"; http_uri; content:"debug=1"; http_uri; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin if not essential: Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and deactivate "SendPulse Email Marketing Newsletter".
2. Remove the plugin entirely to prevent re-enabling.
3. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing sendpulse-email-marketing-newsletter and debug=1.

Long-Term Fix:

• Monitor the vendor’s website for a patched version (2.2.2 or later).
• If no patch is released, consider migrating to an alternative email marketing plugin with active support.

Compensating Controls:

• Restrict access to plugin directories via .htaccess:

  <FilesMatch "class-debug\.php">
      Require all denied
  </FilesMatch>
  

• Enable WordPress debug mode only in controlled environments.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers