The ShopEngine Elementor WooCommerce Builder Addon plugin, widely used in WordPress e-commerce sites, suffers from a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-12358. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 4.8.5 due to two main issues: the absence of nonce validation in the "post_add_to_list" function and an incorrect permissions callback in the "Api/init" function. Nonce validation is a security mechanism designed to ensure that requests originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third-party sites. Without this validation, attackers can craft malicious web pages or emails that, when visited or clicked by an authenticated user, cause unintended actions on the vulnerable site. Specifically, attackers can add or remove products from a user's wishlist without their consent. The vulnerability does not require authentication (PR:N) but does require user interaction (UI:R), such as clicking a link. The CVSS v3.1 score is 4.3 (medium), reflecting limited impact on confidentiality (none) and availability (none), but some impact on integrity (wishlist manipulation). No known exploits have been reported in the wild yet. The vulnerability's root cause is improper implementation of security controls in the plugin's API endpoints, which should enforce nonce checks and proper permission callbacks to prevent unauthorized requests. This flaw can be exploited remotely over the network (AV:N) without elevated privileges, making it accessible to a wide range of attackers if users are tricked into interaction.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily concerns user trust and potential manipulation of e-commerce user experience. While it does not expose sensitive data or disrupt service availability, unauthorized modification of wishlists can lead to customer dissatisfaction, potential loss of sales, and reputational damage. Attackers might exploit this vulnerability to manipulate product popularity metrics or create confusion among users, indirectly affecting business analytics and marketing strategies. Since WooCommerce is a popular e-commerce platform in Europe, especially in countries with strong online retail sectors, organizations relying on the ShopEngine Elementor WooCommerce Builder Addon are at risk. The vulnerability could also be leveraged as a stepping stone in more complex social engineering or phishing campaigns targeting customers. However, the lack of direct data breach or service disruption limits the severity of the impact. Nonetheless, the presence of such a vulnerability undermines the overall security posture of affected e-commerce sites and could invite further scrutiny from regulators under GDPR if user trust is compromised.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should immediately verify if they use the ShopEngine Elementor WooCommerce Builder Addon plugin and identify the version deployed. Since no official patch links are currently available, organizations should monitor the vendor's announcements for updates addressing nonce validation and permissions callback issues. In the interim, administrators can implement custom nonce validation checks on the affected API endpoints to block unauthorized requests. Additionally, applying Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious CSRF attempts can reduce risk. Educating users about the dangers of clicking unsolicited links and implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict cross-origin requests can further mitigate exploitation vectors. Regularly auditing plugin permissions and restricting API access to authenticated and authorized users will help prevent unauthorized actions. Finally, organizations should consider alternative plugins with stronger security postures if timely patches are not forthcoming.