Redirection for Contact Form 7 <= 3.2.4 - Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection via PHAR Deserialization
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.2.5
- Affected Plugin
- Redirection for Contact Form 7
- Affected Version
<= 3.2.4- CVSS
- 7.5High
- Weakness type
- CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data
- CVE
CVE-2025-8289
At a glance
CVE-2025-8289 is a high-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in the Redirection for Contact Form 7 WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.2.4. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.2.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2025, reported by Phat RiO.
Vulnerability Overview
The Redirection for Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.4 via deserialization of untrusted input in the delete_associated_files function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. This vulnerability may be exploited by unauthenticated attackers when a form is present on the site with a file upload action, and doesn't affect sites with PHP version > 8. This vulnerability also requires the 'Redirection For Contact Form 7 Extension - Create Post' extension to be installed and activated in order to be exploited. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present. We confirmed there is a usable gadget in Contact Form 7 plugin that makes arbitrary file deletion possible when installed with this plugin. Given Contact Form 7 is a requirement of this plugin, it is likely that any site with this plugin and the 'Redirection For Contact Form 7 Extension - Create Post' extension enabled is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no privileges on the target site. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Reaching this weakness in Redirection for Contact Form 7 <= 3.2.4 takes no account at all. Deserialization of untrusted data means the application reconstructs objects from input a caller controls, letting the attacker choose which classes get instantiated and what their properties hold.
A workable chain turns deserialization into file writes, deletions or code execution, depending on what the loaded classes do in their magic methods. For Redirection for Contact Form 7 the fix is 3.2.5: builds <= 3.2.4 are affected, anything from 3.2.5 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.2.5, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Redirection for Contact Form 7 3.2.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Login Security
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Redirection for Contact Form 7
- 8.8CVE-2025-8141: Redirection for Contact Form 7 Arbitrary File Deletion
CVE-2025-8141 - 8.1CVE-2025-14800: Redirection for Contact Form 7 Arbitrary File Copy
CVE-2025-14800 - 7.5CVE-2021-24278: Redirection for Contact… Arbitrary Nonce Generation
CVE-2021-24278 - 7.2CVE-2026-23970: Redirection for Contact Form 7 <= 3.2.8 Stored XSS
CVE-2026-23970 - 7.2CVE-2023-23990: Redirection for Contact Form 7 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2023-23990 - 6.5CVE-2026-80439: Redirection for Contact… Arbitrary Shortcode Execution
CVE-2026-80439 - 6.5CVE-2021-24279: Redirection for Contact… Arbitrary Plugin Installation
CVE-2021-24279 - 6.4CVE-2025-9562: Redirection for Contact Form 7 <= 3.2.6 Stored XSS
CVE-2025-9562
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C