CVE-2025-30586
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 · uneditedCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in bbodine1 cTabs ctabs allows Stored XSS.This issue affects cTabs: from n/a through <= 1.3.
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 confidenceA CSRF vulnerability in the cTabs WordPress plugin (versions <= 1.3) allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into unknowingly submitting malicious requests that result in Stored XSS. The lack of anti-CSRF tokens on state-changing operations enables attackers to inject persistent malicious scripts that execute when other users view the affected tab 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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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Verify cTabs plugin installation and versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate cTabs, or check the plugin header file (usually in /wp-content/plugins/ctabs/ or similar) for the 'Version' comment. Alternatively, query the WordPress database: SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%ctabs%version%';Affected if The installed version is 1.3 or lower (the plugin file header shows 'Version: 1.3' or below)
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Identify state-changing admin actionsReview the plugin source code (PHP files in the cTabs plugin directory) for any $_POST, $_GET, or $_REQUEST handling that modifies data, such as saving tab configurations, creating/editing tabs, or updating plugin settings. Look for form handlers and AJAX endpoints in the admin area.Affected if The plugin performs any database write operations (saving, updating, deleting tabs or settings) via HTTP requests without first checking for a nonce or CSRF token
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Check for missing anti-CSRF token validationIn the identified state-changing PHP handlers, search for calls to wp_verify_nonce(), check_admin_referer(), or similar nonce verification functions. Also check for nonces in any HTML forms or JavaScript AJAX calls that trigger these actions.Affected if The form handlers or AJAX endpoints that modify data lack nonce verification calls, meaning no token validation occurs before processing the request
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Inspect stored tab content for malicious scriptsIf you have access to the WordPress database, query for stored tab data: SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%ctabs%'; Also check any custom post meta tables. In the admin, navigate to the cTabs settings page and view saved tabs to see if any contain unexpected script tags, iframe tags, or event handlers in the tab title or content fields.Affected if Stored tab data contains unsanitized HTML, JavaScript, or event handlers (onload, onerror, onclick, etc.) that could execute as Stored XSS
You are affected if the cTabs plugin version is 1.3 or lower AND the plugin's admin action handlers lack nonce/CSRF token verification, allowing attackers to inject persistent malicious scripts via tricking an authenticated administrator.
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 dataImplement anti-CSRF tokens (nonces) on all state-changing admin actions and apply proper input validation with context-aware output encoding to prevent Stored XSS execution.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-30586 — 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-2025-30586 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
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