CVE-2025-12028
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe IndieAuth plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 4.5.4. This is due to missing nonce verification on the `login_form_indieauth()` function and the authorization endpoint at wp-login.php?action=indieauth. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to force authenticated users to approve OAuth authorization requests for attacker-controlled applications via a forged request granted they can trick a user into performing an action such as clicking on a link or visiting a malicious page while logged in. The attacker can then exchange the stolen authorization code for an access token, effectively taking over the victim's account with the granted scopes (create, update, delete).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe IndieAuth WordPress plugin lacks CSRF protection (nonce verification) on its authorization functions, allowing attackers to trick logged-in users into approving malicious OAuth authorization requests. Attackers can then steal the authorization code and exchange it for an access token, achieving account takeover with create/update/delete privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if IndieAuth plugin is installedNavigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in WordPress admin, or inspect the plugin directory /wp-content/plugins/indieauth/ for the main plugin fileAffected if IndieAuth plugin is not found in the WordPress installation
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Identify installed IndieAuth versionIn WordPress admin, click on the IndieAuth plugin to view its details and version number, or open /wp-content/plugins/indieauth/indieauth.php and locate the Version header in the plugin comment blockAffected if Version is lower than 4.5.5 or version cannot be determined (plugin is present but version info missing)
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Verify plugin is activeCheck the Plugins > Installed Plugins page for the IndieAuth plugin status; an active plugin status indicates the vulnerable code is loadedAffected if Plugin is active and version is below 4.5.5
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Confirm the vulnerable endpoint is accessibleAttempt to access wp-login.php?action=indieauth or check if the login_form_indieauth action is hooked in the plugin source code at /wp-content/plugins/indieauth/includes/functions.phpAffected if Endpoint returns a response without redirecting or failing due to missing nonce verification
The environment is affected if the IndieAuth plugin is installed, active, and running a version prior to 4.5.5 with the indieauth login endpoint exposed and lacking nonce verification.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate IndieAuth plugin to version 4.5.5 or later which includes nonce verification on the vulnerable functions, or implement nonce checks on login_form_indieauth() and the wp-login.php?action=indieauth endpoint.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,648.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12028 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-12028 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data