CVE-2025-12718
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 Quick Contact Form plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Open Mail Relay in all versions up to, and including, 8.2.6. This is due to the 'qcf_validate_form' AJAX endpoint allowing a user controlled parameter to set the 'from' email address. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to send emails to arbitrary recipients utilizing the server. The information is limited to the contact form submission details.
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 Quick Contact Form WordPress plugin's 'qcf_validate_form' AJAX endpoint allows unauthenticated users to control the 'from' email address parameter. This enables attackers to inject arbitrary recipient addresses and use the server as an open mail relay for spam or phishing campaigns.
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
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N
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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Confirm Quick Contact Form plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Quick Contact Form', or check the wp-content/plugins/ directory for the quick-contact-form folder. Note the installed version number.Affected if The plugin is installed and the version is 8.2.6 or lower
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Verify the qcf_validate_form AJAX endpoint is exposedAccess the URL /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=qcf_validate_form via a web browser or curl command without authentication. A non-401 response indicates the endpoint is publicly accessible.Affected if The endpoint returns a valid response without requiring authentication (no 401/403 error)
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Identify the form submission parameter structureInspect the plugin's JavaScript files (typically in js/ folder within the plugin) or view the page source of any page containing the Quick Contact Form. Look for the form field that controls the 'from' email address, often named 'from', 'email_from', or similar.Affected if The form contains an editable 'from' email field that gets sent to the AJAX endpoint
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Test if the from parameter accepts arbitrary email addressesSend a POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=qcf_validate_form and a manipulated 'from' parameter containing an external email address (for example: [email protected]). Check if the server accepts or processes this value without validation.Affected if The server accepts and processes arbitrary 'from' email values in the request without rejecting them
A user is affected if the Quick Contact Form plugin is installed with version 8.2.6 or lower AND the qcf_validate_form AJAX endpoint is publicly accessible with an editable 'from' email parameter.
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 the Quick Contact Form plugin to a version beyond 8.2.6. If patching is delayed, implement server-level SMTP authentication restrictions or temporary IP-based access controls on the affected endpoint.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12718 — 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-2025-12718 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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