Имя плагина	多说社会化评论框
Type of Vulnerability	Подделка межсайтовых запросов (CSRF)
CVE Number	CVE-2025-48318
Срочность	Низкий
CVE Publish Date	2025-08-23
Source URL	CVE-2025-48318

Duoshuo (多说) Social Comments Plugin <= 1.2 — CSRF to Settings Change (CVE-2025-48318)

Authored by: WP-Firewall Security Team
Опубликовано: 25 August 2025

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Краткое содержание

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability has been identified in the Duoshuo (多说社会化评论框) WordPress plugin versions <= 1.2 that allows attackers to trigger settings changes in affected sites. The vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2025-48318 and has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Low). The plugin appears to be unmaintained and no official fix is available at publication time. This advisory explains the risk, exploitation scenarios, detection and mitigation steps, a short virtual-patch strategy that a web application firewall (WAF) can apply, and long-term recommendations for WordPress site owners.

Note: This post is written from the perspective of WP-Firewall — a WordPress firewall provider and security service. If you run WordPress sites that use Duoshuo, please act now.

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Table of contents

• What is this vulnerability?
• Why it matters (real-world impact)
• Who is at risk and preconditions
• How the vulnerability is typically exploited (attack scenarios)
• Indicators of compromise (IoCs) and evidence to look for
• Immediate emergency steps for site owners
• Short-term developer patch (if you can edit plugin code)
• WAF / virtual patch rules you can deploy immediately
• Recovery and remediation actions after a compromise
• Long-term recommendations and secure alternatives
• Why a managed WAF and malware scanner helps (WP-Firewall free plan)
• Appendix: Example detection queries and logs

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What is this vulnerability?

This is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Duoshuo plugin versions up to and including 1.2 that affects settings-change endpoints. A CSRF issue occurs when a web application accepts state-changing requests (for example, saving plugin options) without verifying that the request was intentionally performed by a legitimate, authenticated user of the application. An attacker can craft a webpage or email that causes an authenticated administrator (or any user with sufficient privilege) to unknowingly submit such a request — changing configuration values in the plugin.

Although the CVSS rating is low (4.3), the practical impact depends on what the plugin settings control. Settings could include API keys, callback URLs, remote endpoints, or flags that change how the plugin interacts with third-party services — any of which can be abused to facilitate information theft, token leakage, or follow-on compromise.

CVE ID: CVE-2025-48318

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Why it matters (real-world impact)

CSRF on a settings endpoint is often underestimated. While it does not directly let an attacker run arbitrary PHP code on a server, changing plugin settings can create a powerful foothold:

• Replace legitimate third-party endpoints with attacker-controlled endpoints (exfiltrate comment content, tokens).
• Inject or change API keys or secret tokens that are persisted and used later by the plugin (leading to data leakage).
• Turn on debugging/logging with sensitive output or toggles that degrade security.
• Modify callback URLs or webhooks to send privileged data to an attacker-controlled server.
• Create or modify content that could be used in social engineering or to seed stored XSS.
• In some cases, plugin options might include the ability to embed remote scripts — enabling full-site compromises.

Because the plugin appears unmaintained and no official patch exists, the safest approach is either to remove and replace the plugin or implement immediate mitigating protections.

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Who is at risk and preconditions

• Any WordPress site running Duoshuo <= 1.2 is potentially vulnerable.
• Exploitation requires a victim who is authenticated in the WordPress admin with sufficient privilege to change the plugin settings (commonly administrators). However, classification sources sometimes list the attack as “Unauthenticated” when the plugin exposes actions that do not validate request provenance — treat this carefully: exploitation still relies on the victim being logged in.
• Attackers do not need to log in. Instead they rely on social-engineering to make an admin click a link or visit a page while logged in, or they can craft a hidden request embedded in e-mail or third-party sites.
• If your site has multiple admin users or editorial staff with admin-level access, risk increases.

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How the vulnerability is typically exploited (attack scenarios)

1. Malicious email / internal message:
   • The attacker sends a seemingly normal email to an administrator containing a link to a malicious page or an image tag that triggers a POST to the plugin’s settings handler.
   • If the admin opens the email while logged in to WordPress, their browser will execute the action request and the plugin will save the attacker’s supplied settings.
2. Social engineering via web content:
   • An attacker posts a link to a crafted page (on a forum, blog, or chat) that automatically submits a hidden HTML form to the vulnerable site using JavaScript or an image-GET/POST trick.
   • The admin visits the page — the form or script posts the malicious parameters — settings change silently.
3. Automatic mass exploitation:
   • Because the vulnerability is simple to invoke, attackers can try to target many websites and hope admin users are authenticated during the attack window.

Typical malicious POST (conceptual example — do not run on a production site):

POST /wp-admin/admin.php?page=duoshuo-settings HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Cookie: wordpress_logged_in=...
Referer: https://attacker.example/

option_name=duoshuo_api_key&option_value=ATTACKER_KEY&submit=Save

If plugin code does not verify a nonce or the current user capability and relies on the incoming request alone, this request will be accepted and persisted.

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Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and what to look for

If you suspect an attempt or successful exploitation, inspect the following:

• Unexpected POST requests to plugin admin endpoints such as:
  • /wp-admin/admin.php?page=duoshuo-settings
  • /wp-admin/options.php (if plugin uses it)
  • Any admin-ajax action where the plugin registers settings saves
• New or changed option values in the wp_options table (search for option names with plugin prefix, e.g., duoshuo_*)
  • Example SQL: SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%duoshuo%';
• New or changed API keys, webhooks, or remote callback URLs in plugin configuration
• Outbound HTTP traffic to unknown hosts shortly after settings changes (exfiltration to attacker-controlled domains)
• Suspicious browser-originated requests (referer header shows external domains) in server logs that correspond to POSTs that changed options
• Newly created admin-level accounts or unusual privilege escalations not linked to known admin actions
• Changes to plugin templates or creation of PHP files containing remote include calls (less likely from CSRF alone but possible if settings enable remote scripts)
• Alert from external monitoring services about modified content or endpoints

Collect logs (web server access logs, application logs, WP activity logs) with timestamps for all suspicious requests.

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Immediate emergency steps for site owners

1. If you are an admin: do not visit unknown pages or follow suspicious links while logged in. Log out of admin sessions on untrusted networks.
2. If Duoshuo is active on your site, deactivate the plugin immediately. Deactivating may prevent further changes via CSRF endpoints but note: simply deactivating does not remove configuration that could have been changed earlier.
3. If you cannot deactivate quickly (e.g., multiple sites managed at scale), block access to the plugin admin URLs via IP or WAF rules (see WAF section below).
4. Rotate credentials and API keys that could be impacted:
   • WordPress admin passwords
   • Any API keys stored in plugin settings (e.g., comment platform keys)
   • Third-party service keys that the plugin uses
5. Inspect site configuration and wp_options for suspicious values (see IoCs) and record changes.
6. Scan your site with a reputable malware scanner and review core files for modifications.
7. If you detect compromise (backdoors, unauthorized admin accounts), isolate the site: take it offline or put in maintenance mode and start incident response (restore from a known-good backup if available).
8. Apply hardening: enable 2FA for admin users, enforce strong passwords, restrict admin access to trusted IPs where possible.

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Short-term developer patch (edit-plugin) — add nonce and capability checks

If you have the ability to modify plugin code, adding a nonce and checking for correct capabilities is the canonical immediate fix. The examples below are generic and intended to illustrate the principle — you must adapt them to the plugin’s code structure and naming conventions.

Add a nonce to the settings form:

<form method="post" action="<?php echo esc_url( admin_url('admin-post.php') ); ?>">
  <?php wp_nonce_field( 'duoshuo_save_settings', 'duoshuo_nonce' ); ?>
  <input type="hidden" name="action" value="duoshuo_save_settings">
  <!-- plugin settings fields -->
  <button type="submit">Save</button>
</form>

In the handler, validate the nonce and capability:

add_action( 'admin_post_duoshuo_save_settings', 'duoshuo_save_settings_handler' );

function duoshuo_save_settings_handler() {
    if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) {
        wp_die( 'Insufficient permissions' );
    }

    if ( ! isset( $_POST['duoshuo_nonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['duoshuo_nonce'], 'duoshuo_save_settings' ) ) {
        wp_die( 'Invalid nonce' );
    }

    // sanitize and save settings
    $api_key = isset( $_POST['duoshuo_api_key'] ) ? sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_POST['duoshuo_api_key'] ) ) : '';
    update_option( 'duoshuo_api_key', $api_key );

    wp_redirect( admin_url( 'admin.php?page=duoshuo-settings&updated=1' ) );
    exit;
}

If the plugin already uses admin-post.php or admin-ajax, ensure similar checks are in place. This small defensive change will prevent the basic CSRF pattern above.

Important: Modifying plugin code should be done carefully and ideally backed up. If the plugin is truly abandoned, consider replacing it — don’t rely on DIY patches indefinitely.

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WAF / Virtual patch rules you can deploy immediately

If you run a web application firewall (WAF) or managed firewall (like WP-Firewall), virtual patching can be implemented to block exploitation attempts while you transition to a long-term fix. Below are concepts and example rules (conceptual; adapt to your WAF syntax).

Primary strategy: block unauthenticated or external-origin POST requests to plugin endpoints that change settings, or require presence and validity of WordPress nonces.

1. Block POSTs to plugin admin endpoint coming from cross-origin without valid nonce:
   • Rule concept:
     • If request method is POST and request path contains /wp-admin/ and query string contains page=duoshuo-settings (or options.php) and Referer header does not match your site’s domain and there is no valid WP nonce in the POST body, block.
   • Example ModSecurity-style pseudo-rule:

     SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "POST" "phase:2,chain,deny,status:403,msg:'Block Duoshuo CSRF attempt'"
       SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-admin/" "chain"
       SecRule ARGS:action "@eq duoshuo_save_settings" "chain"
       SecRule &ARGS:duoshuo_nonce "@eq 0" "id:100001,log"
     

2. Block POSTs that change plugin options unless originating from admin referrer and have a cookie for a logged-in user (prevents blind CSRF):
   • Rule idea:
     • If POST to admin options endpoint and Referer header is missing or not your domain, block.
   • Пример:

     SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "POST" "phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'Blocked admin POST without referer'"
       SecRule REQUEST_URI "@beginsWith /wp-admin/" "chain"
       SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@contains example.com"
     

3. Targeted block for suspicious param values pointing to external domains (prevent webhook/API URL tampering).

   SecRule ARGS_NAMES "@contains webhook_url|callback_url|api_endpoint" "phase:2,chain,deny,msg:'Block attempt to set external webhook'"
     SecRule ARGS:callback_url "@rx ^https?://(?!example\.com).*" "id:100003,log"
   

4. Rate-limit or alert on repeated attempts to POST to the plugin admin endpoint from external IPs (mass-scanning).

Note: WAF rules that block based on Referer can break legitimate integrations (some clients legitimately omit Referer or use differently formatted headers). Test carefully on staging and prefer blocking only when criteria clearly indicate CSRF exploitation.

WP-Firewall-managed rule recommendations

• Deploy a virtual patch that blocks unauthenticated POSTs to known vulnerable plugin admin actions.
• Monitor for sudden bursts of POST attempts to plugin endpoints and notify site admins.
• Add a rule to enforce presence of a valid WordPress nonce (when possible) or at least block if no nonce parameter exists.

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Recovery and remediation actions after a confirmed compromise

1. Take an offline snapshot (full backup) of current site and database for forensic analysis.
2. Revoke/rotate any API keys or secrets that were stored in plugin settings immediately.
3. Reset admin passwords and force password resets for all privileged users.
4. Remove any unknown admin users and investigate how they were created.
5. Revert plugin settings to a known-good state (from a recent backup), or remove and reinstall plugin from trusted source.
6. Search for additional indicators of compromise (malicious files, modified core, scheduled tasks in the database wp_cron entries).
7. Scan for malware/backdoors using multiple scanning mechanisms and, if possible, an offline scanner.
8. If malware or backdoors are found, rebuild from a trusted backup or reinstall WordPress/core/themes/plugins and import content carefully.
9. Notify your hosting provider and consider professional incident response if you lack the resources to fully remediate.
10. Once cleaned, enable additional protections: WAF virtual patching, 2FA, strict admin IP restrictions, timely updates.

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Long-term recommendations and secure alternatives

1. Replace abandoned plugins:
   • If Duoshuo is no longer maintained, replace it with an actively maintained, well-reviewed plugin that follows WordPress security best practices (nonces, capability checks, sanitized inputs, prepared statements).
   • Regularly monitor plugin vendors for security disclosure programs or maintenance activity.
2. Enforce least privilege:
   • Remove admin rights from accounts that do not need them.
   • Use roles and capabilities correctly — avoid using a single shared admin account.
3. Harden admin access:
   • Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on all admin accounts.
   • Consider restricting wp-admin access by IP (useful in small-team environments).
   • Use strong passwords and enforce password rotation after incidents.
4. Security monitoring and logging:
   • Centralize logs (web server, WordPress activity logs) and retain them for a reasonable timeframe.
   • Enable file integrity monitoring.
   • Use uptime and integrity alerts to detect sudden changes.
5. Backup and recovery planning:
   • Maintain regular offsite backups.
   • Periodically test the restore process.
6. Adopt managed virtual patching for high-risk third-party components:
   • While upgrading or replacing plugins, use a virtual patch/WAF service to block exploitation vectors.

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Why a managed WAF + malware scanner helps (WP-Firewall Free Plan)

Protect Your Site Now — Free WAF and Malware Scanning from WP-Firewall

If you’re not ready to replace the plugin immediately or you manage many WordPress sites, a managed WAF and malware scanner give you a fast defense layer. WP-Firewall’s Basic (Free) plan provides essential protection:

• Managed firewall that blocks known web threats and suspicious POSTs
• Unlimited bandwidth (so blocking traffic won’t create unexpected costs)
• WAF rules tuned for WordPress, including virtual patching of known plugin vulnerabilities
• Malware scanner that detects anomalous files and configuration changes
• Mitigation against OWASP Top 10 threats like CSRF, XSS, and injection vectors

If you need more control and automated remediation, paid plans add automatic malware removal and the ability to manage IP blacklists and whitelists. For ongoing security at scale, WP-Firewall also offers Pro services with vulnerability virtual patching and dedicated support. Sign up for the free plan and add a WAF rule that mitigates CSRF attempts to admin endpoints immediately: https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/

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Appendix: Example detection queries and server log checks

1. Find plugin-related POSTs in Apache logs:

   grep "POST" /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep "admin.php" | grep "duoshuo"

2. Search database for duoshuo options:

   SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%duoshuo%';

3. Identify POSTs without internal Referer:

   awk '$6 ~ /^POST/ && $0 !~ /Referer: https://example.com/ { print }' access.log

4. Look for new or modified admin users:

   SELECT user_login, user_email, user_registered FROM wp_users WHERE ID IN (
     SELECT user_id FROM wp_usermeta WHERE meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' AND meta_value LIKE '%administrator%'
   ) ORDER BY user_registered DESC;

5. Inspect admin-ajax actions:

   grep "admin-ajax.php" /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep "duoshuo"

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Final words — an expert recommendation

CSRF vulnerabilities like this one are classic, easy to exploit, and particularly dangerous when they target configuration endpoints. For plugin owners and site operators, the three-step immediate path is:

1. Deactivate and replace unmaintained plugins where possible.
2. Apply virtual patches via a WAF to block exploitation vectors now.
3. Harden admin access (2FA, least privilege, restrict by IP) and rotate credentials and API keys if any suspicious activity is detected.

At WP-Firewall, we’ve seen many incidents where a modest button change in a plugin resulted in a chain of consequences because API keys and webhooks were redirected to attacker infrastructure. Don’t wait for a vendor patch if the plugin is not actively maintained — deploy a WAF rule, harden access, and plan to replace the plugin.

If you want a quick protective layer while you investigate, WP-Firewall’s free Basic plan provides an effective WAF, scanning and OWASP Top 10 mitigation to reduce your attack surface immediately: https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/

Stay safe, and audit plugin installs regularly — the convenience of third-party plugins shouldn’t come at the cost of site security.

— WP-Firewall Security Team