CVE-2025-60178: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-60178 is a Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in the CRM Perks WP Gravity Forms HubSpot WordPress plugin (slug: gf-hubspot) that enables unauthenticated Object Injection attacks. It affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.2.6; version 1.2.7 contains the fix. The vulnerability was reported by researcher Phat RiO on July 9, 2025, and published by Patchstack on August 8, 2025. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical) (Patchstack).

The root cause is improper deserialization of attacker-controlled data (CWE-502), which allows PHP Object Injection — classified under CAPEC-586. Because no authentication is required and the attack vector is network-accessible with low complexity, a remote attacker can craft a malicious serialized PHP payload and submit it to the plugin's vulnerable input handling code. Depending on the PHP classes (gadget chains) available in the WordPress environment, the injected object can trigger arbitrary method calls during deserialization, potentially leading to remote code execution, file manipulation, or denial of service (Patchstack).

Successful exploitation can result in complete compromise of the affected WordPress installation, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. An unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary code, gain administrative access, steal sensitive form submission data (including HubSpot-integrated CRM data), deface or modify site content, establish persistent backdoors, or disrupt site availability. The plugin's integration with HubSpot also raises the risk of downstream exposure of connected CRM data (Patchstack).

No public proof-of-concept exploit code has been identified, and there is no evidence of active in-the-wild exploitation at this time. The EPSS score is approximately 0.024%, reflecting low current exploitation probability. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. However, Patchstack notes that vulnerabilities of this class and severity are frequently used in mass-exploit campaigns targeting WordPress sites at scale, regardless of site popularity (Patchstack).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify WordPress sites running the WP Gravity Forms HubSpot plugin (gf-hubspot) version ≤ 1.2.6 using tools like WPScan, Shodan, or by checking publicly accessible plugin metadata (e.g., /wp-content/plugins/gf-hubspot/readme.txt).
2. Identify vulnerable endpoint: Locate the plugin's input-handling endpoint or form submission handler that processes serialized PHP data without proper validation.
3. Craft malicious payload: Construct a serialized PHP object payload leveraging available gadget chains in the target WordPress environment (e.g., using tools like PHPGGC to generate gadget chains compatible with common WordPress/PHP libraries).
4. Submit payload: Send the crafted serialized payload to the vulnerable endpoint via an unauthenticated HTTP request (e.g., a POST request to the Gravity Forms submission handler integrated with the plugin).
5. Trigger deserialization: The plugin deserializes the attacker-controlled input, invoking magic methods (__wakeup, __destruct) on the injected object, which chains through available gadgets to execute arbitrary code or perform malicious actions on the server.
6. Achieve objective: Depending on available gadget chains, the attacker may achieve remote code execution, write a web shell, escalate privileges to WordPress admin, or exfiltrate data (Patchstack).

• Network: Unusual POST requests to Gravity Forms submission endpoints containing serialized PHP data (strings beginning with O:, a:, or s: in request bodies); unexpected outbound connections from the web server to external IPs.
• File System: Newly created or modified PHP files in wp-content/plugins/gf-hubspot/ or wp-content/uploads/; presence of web shells (e.g., files named shell.php, cmd.php, or obfuscated .php files in upload directories).
• Logs: PHP error logs showing deserialization-related warnings or fatal errors; WordPress access logs with anomalous POST requests to form submission endpoints from unfamiliar IPs; repeated requests with encoded or binary payloads.
• Process: Unexpected child processes spawned by the web server process (e.g., bash, curl, wget, python) on the hosting server.

The primary remediation is to update the WP Gravity Forms HubSpot plugin to version 1.2.7 or later, which contains the patch for this vulnerability. If immediate updating is not possible, the plugin should be disabled until the patch can be applied. Patchstack users benefit from a virtual patching/mitigation rule that blocks exploitation attempts without requiring an immediate plugin update. Site administrators should also monitor WordPress installations for signs of compromise and review form submission logs for anomalous activity (Patchstack).