CVE-2025-49511: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-49511 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the uxper Civi Framework WordPress plugin that allows unauthenticated attackers to force authenticated users into executing unwanted actions, specifically user deactivation. It affects all versions of the Civi Framework plugin up to and including 2.1.6. The vulnerability was reported on June 1, 2025, by researcher Phat RiO and published by Patchstack on June 6, 2025. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (High) (Patchstack, Red Hat CVE).

The vulnerability is classified as CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery) and falls under OWASP Top 10 category A4: Insecure Design. The plugin fails to implement adequate CSRF protections (such as nonce verification) on sensitive state-changing actions, specifically the user deactivation functionality. An unauthenticated attacker can craft a malicious request or page that, when visited by an authenticated privileged user, triggers the deactivation of targeted user accounts without the victim's knowledge or consent (Patchstack).

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to deactivate user accounts on the affected WordPress site, resulting in high availability impact and low integrity impact. Confidentiality is not directly affected. The attack can be used to disrupt site operations by deactivating administrator or other privileged accounts, potentially locking legitimate users out of the system. While the individual impact is moderate, Patchstack notes that vulnerabilities of this type are commonly used in mass-exploit campaigns targeting thousands of WordPress sites simultaneously (Patchstack).

No public proof-of-concept exploit code or in-the-wild exploitation has been reported for this vulnerability. The EPSS score is approximately 0.015% (0.000150), indicating a very low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Exploitation requires user interaction — a privileged user must be tricked into clicking a malicious link or visiting a crafted page — which limits the attack surface compared to fully unauthenticated vulnerabilities (Patchstack).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify WordPress sites running the Civi Framework plugin version 2.1.6 or earlier, using tools like WPScan or Shodan to enumerate plugin versions.
2. Craft malicious request: Construct a forged HTTP request targeting the Civi Framework's user deactivation endpoint, which lacks CSRF token validation.
3. Deliver the payload: Embed the forged request in a malicious HTML page (e.g., an <img> tag or auto-submitting form) and socially engineer a privileged WordPress user (e.g., administrator) into visiting the page via phishing email or malicious link.
4. Trigger deactivation: When the authenticated user's browser loads the crafted page, it automatically sends the forged request to the vulnerable WordPress site using the victim's active session cookies, causing the targeted user account(s) to be deactivated without the victim's awareness (Patchstack).

• Logs: WordPress access logs showing unexpected POST requests to Civi Framework user management endpoints originating from unusual referrers or external domains.
• Application: Unexpected user account deactivations in the WordPress admin panel, particularly of administrator or privileged accounts, with no corresponding admin activity in audit logs.
• Network: HTTP requests to user deactivation endpoints lacking a valid WordPress nonce or originating from cross-origin referrers.

The vulnerability has been patched in Civi Framework version 2.1.6.4. Site administrators should update the plugin to version 2.1.6.4 or later immediately. If an immediate update is not possible, consider temporarily deactivating the plugin or restricting access to the WordPress admin area via IP allowlisting. Patchstack users can enable auto-update for vulnerable plugins as an additional safeguard (Patchstack).