Modal Window – create popup modal window <= 5.2.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Remote Code Execution
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.2.2
- Affected Plugin
- Modal Window – create popup modal window
- Affected Version
< 5.2.2- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2021-25051
At a glance
CVE-2021-25051 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Modal Window WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 5.2.2. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by Krzysztof Zając.
Vulnerability Overview
The Modal Window WordPress plugin before 5.2.2 within the wow-company admin menu page allows to include() arbitrary file with PHP extension (as well as with data:// or http:// protocols), thus leading to CSRF RCE.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Modal Window < 5.2.2 carries this weakness at include(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Modal Window the fix is 5.2.2: builds < 5.2.2 are affected, anything from 5.2.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.2.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Modal Window: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Modal Window 5.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Modal Window – create popup modal window
- 6.4CVE-2025-0897: Modal Window <= 6.1.5 Stored Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2025-0897 - 6.4CVE-2024-43346: Modal Window <= 6.0.3 Stored Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2024-43346 - 6.4CVE-2024-2457: Modal Window – create popup modal window Stored XSS
CVE-2024-2457 - 6.4CVE-2023-5161: Modal Window <= 5.3.5 Stored Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2023-5161
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C