CVE-2025-10499 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Ninja Forms WordPress plugin, specifically versions up to and including 3.12.0. Ninja Forms is a popular contact form builder plugin used to create and manage forms on WordPress sites. The vulnerability arises from missing or incorrect nonce validation in the maybe_opt_in() function, which is responsible for opting the site into usage statistics collection. Because of the lack of proper CSRF protections, an unauthenticated attacker can craft a malicious request that, if a site administrator is tricked into clicking (e.g., via a link in an email or on a webpage), causes the administrator's browser to perform the opt-in action without their consent. This opt-in action does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability but does affect the integrity of the site’s configuration by altering its telemetry settings. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium severity), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based, requires no privileges, but does require user interaction (clicking a link). There is no indication of known exploits in the wild at this time, and no patches have been linked yet, suggesting that mitigation may rely on updates from the vendor or manual intervention. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-352, which is a common web application security weakness related to CSRF attacks.

For European organizations using WordPress sites with the Ninja Forms plugin, this vulnerability primarily impacts the integrity of site settings by allowing unauthorized changes to telemetry opt-in status. While this does not directly lead to data breaches or service disruption, it could have privacy implications by enabling data collection without explicit consent, potentially violating GDPR requirements concerning user data and consent transparency. Additionally, the presence of this vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain, where an attacker first gains trust or foothold via this CSRF vector and then attempts further exploitation. Organizations with strict compliance requirements or those handling sensitive user data should be particularly cautious. The impact is more pronounced for organizations with administrators who frequently interact with email or web content, as the attack requires user interaction. The medium severity rating suggests that while the threat is not critical, it should not be ignored, especially in regulated environments.

1. Immediate mitigation involves educating site administrators to avoid clicking on suspicious links, especially those that could trigger form submissions or configuration changes. 2. Administrators should monitor and audit their site’s telemetry opt-in status regularly to detect unauthorized changes. 3. Implement web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block CSRF attack patterns targeting WordPress admin actions. 4. Until an official patch is released, consider disabling telemetry or usage statistics collection features in Ninja Forms if possible. 5. Encourage the plugin vendor to release a patch that properly implements nonce validation on the maybe_opt_in() function. 6. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers and SameSite cookie attributes to reduce the risk of CSRF attacks. 7. Regularly update WordPress core and all plugins to their latest versions to minimize exposure to known vulnerabilities. 8. For organizations with development resources, consider implementing custom nonce validation or CSRF tokens in the plugin code as a temporary fix.