CVE-2025-12349 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function) affecting the Icegram Express plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce, which is widely used for email marketing, newsletters, and post notifications. The vulnerability exists in versions up to and including 5.9.10, where the plugin fails to verify whether a user is authorized before executing the trigger_mailing_queue_sending function. This function is responsible for initiating the sending of queued emails. Due to the lack of authentication, an unauthenticated attacker can invoke this function remotely to trigger immediate email dispatch, bypassing the intended scheduling mechanism. This can lead to increased server load as emails are sent in rapid succession, potentially degrading performance or causing denial-of-service-like conditions. Additionally, the attacker can manipulate the plugin's internal state, such as the last-cron-hit timestamp, which may interfere with normal cron-based operations and further disrupt service. The vulnerability does not allow direct access to sensitive data (no confidentiality impact) nor does it enable modification of email content (integrity impact is low). The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3 (medium), reflecting the network attack vector, no privileges required, no user interaction, and limited impact on integrity without affecting confidentiality or availability directly. No known exploits have been reported in the wild, and no official patches have been released at the time of this analysis. The vulnerability's exploitation requires only network access to the WordPress site hosting the plugin, making it accessible to remote attackers. Given the plugin's popularity in managing email marketing campaigns, exploitation could disrupt business communications and server stability.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-12349 is operational disruption rather than data breach. Organizations relying on Icegram Express for critical marketing communications or customer notifications may experience service degradation or denial-of-service-like conditions due to forced immediate email sending. This can lead to increased server resource consumption, potentially affecting website performance and availability of other services hosted on the same infrastructure. Although the vulnerability does not expose confidential information or allow direct data manipulation, the disruption of email campaigns can damage business reputation, customer trust, and marketing effectiveness. Additionally, the manipulation of plugin state variables could cause scheduling inconsistencies, leading to missed or duplicated communications. Organizations with high email volumes or limited server capacity are at greater risk of impact. The vulnerability also increases the attack surface for further exploitation if combined with other vulnerabilities, potentially facilitating more severe attacks. Compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR requires maintaining service availability and integrity, so operational disruptions could have indirect regulatory implications. Overall, the impact is moderate but significant for organizations dependent on timely and reliable email marketing.

To mitigate CVE-2025-12349, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Immediately restrict access to the trigger_mailing_queue_sending function by applying web application firewall (WAF) rules that block unauthenticated requests targeting this function or related endpoints. 2) Limit access to the WordPress admin and plugin functionalities to authenticated and authorized users only, employing strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA). 3) Monitor email sending patterns for unusual spikes or deviations from scheduled campaigns, using logging and alerting to detect potential abuse. 4) Isolate the WordPress hosting environment to prevent resource exhaustion from impacting other critical services, for example by using containerization or dedicated servers. 5) Regularly update the Icegram Express plugin as soon as the vendor releases a patch addressing this vulnerability. 6) Employ rate limiting on email sending functions to prevent rapid successive triggers. 7) Review and harden WordPress and WooCommerce security configurations, including disabling unnecessary plugin features and enforcing least privilege principles. 8) Conduct security audits and penetration testing focused on plugin functionalities to identify similar authorization issues. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, monitoring, and environment hardening specific to this vulnerability.