CVE-2025-2801
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 The Create custom forms for WordPress with a smart form plugin for smart businesses plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 1.2.4. This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes.
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 WordPress smart form plugin fails to validate user input before passing it to WordPress's do_shortcode() function. This allows unauthenticated attackers to execute any registered shortcode on the site, potentially exposing sensitive data, escalating privileges, or injecting malicious content.
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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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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Identify if the smart form plugin is installedCheck the WordPress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/) for a folder named 'smart-form', 'smart_form', or similar variations of 'smart form' plugin. You can also list installed plugins via WP-CLI: wp plugin list --status=active --format=csvAffected if The plugin folder exists in the plugins directory and the plugin is active
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Locate the plugin version informationOpen the main plugin PHP file (usually the single PHP file in the plugin folder or one with the same name) and look for the version comment header at the top, or check the plugin's readme.txt file for the 'Stable tag' entryAffected if Unable to locate version information indicates an unverified or modified installation
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Compare installed version to the fixed versionIf version information is found, compare it to version 1.2.5 (the patched version). The plugin versions prior to 1.2.5 are considered affectedAffected if Installed version is lower than 1.2.5
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Verify the plugin handles user inputExamine the plugin's main PHP file for any form handling, GET/POST parameter processing, or references to do_shortcode() function. Look for code that processes user-supplied input and passes it to shortcode functionsAffected if The plugin processes user input and uses do_shortcode() without sanitization - this indicates the vulnerable code path is present
The environment is affected if the smart form plugin is installed, active, and the installed version is lower than 1.2.5, or if the plugin code shows user input being passed to do_shortcode() without validation
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 plugin to version 1.2.5 or later which contains the fix. If no update is available, remove the plugin entirely until a patched version is released.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-2801 — 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-2025-2801 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