Simple Page Access Restriction <= 1.0.31 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via Multiple Parameters
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.0.32
- Affected Plugin
- Simple Page Access Restriction
- Affected Version
<= 1.0.31- CVSS
- 6.5Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2025-5142
At a glance
CVE-2025-5142 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Simple Page Access Restriction WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.31. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.32; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2025, reported by Jonas Benjamin Friedli.
Vulnerability Overview
The Simple Page Access Restriction plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.31. This is due to missing nonce validation and capability checks in the settings save handler in the settings.php script. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to (1) enable or disable access protection on all post types or taxonomies, (2) force every new page/post to be public or private, regardless of meta-box settings, (3) cause a silent wipe of all plugin data when it’s later removed, or (4) to conduct URL redirection attacks via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
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 integrity.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in Simple Page Access Restriction <= 1.0.31 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 Simple Page Access Restriction the fix is 1.0.32: builds <= 1.0.31 are affected, anything from 1.0.32 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.0.32, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Simple Page Access Restriction: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Simple Page Access Restriction 1.0.32 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Simple Page Access Restriction
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