CVE-2025-13205 identifies a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the SurveyJS: Drag & Drop Form Builder WordPress plugin developed by devsoftbaltic. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.12.20. The root cause is the absence or incorrect implementation of nonce validation on the AJAX action named 'SurveyJS_CloneSurvey'. Nonces in WordPress are security tokens used to verify that requests originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third-party sites. Because the nonce validation is missing or flawed, an attacker can craft a malicious web page or email containing a link that, when clicked by an authenticated site administrator, triggers the AJAX action to duplicate surveys without their consent. This attack does not require the attacker to be authenticated and does not directly expose confidential data or disrupt service availability. However, it compromises the integrity of the survey data by allowing unauthorized duplication, which could lead to confusion, data pollution, or manipulation of survey results. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium severity), reflecting the low complexity of exploitation (no privileges required, network vector) but requiring user interaction. No public exploits have been reported yet, and no patches are currently linked, indicating that mitigation may rely on vendor updates or manual security controls. The vulnerability is cataloged under CWE-352, which covers CSRF weaknesses. Given the widespread use of WordPress and the popularity of survey plugins, this vulnerability poses a tangible risk to organizations relying on SurveyJS for form and survey management.

For European organizations, the impact primarily concerns the integrity of survey data and administrative control over form management. Unauthorized duplication of surveys could lead to operational inefficiencies, data management challenges, and potential misinformation if duplicated surveys are used in decision-making or customer interactions. While confidentiality and availability are not directly affected, the trustworthiness of survey results may be undermined. Organizations in sectors such as market research, education, public administration, and customer feedback platforms that use SurveyJS extensively could face reputational damage or operational disruption. Additionally, if attackers combine this vulnerability with social engineering tactics, they could escalate attacks or use duplicated surveys as a vector for further exploitation. The requirement for administrator interaction limits the scope but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with less security awareness or where administrators frequently interact with external content.

1. Monitor for and apply vendor patches or updates as soon as they become available to address nonce validation issues. 2. In the absence of patches, implement custom nonce verification for the 'SurveyJS_CloneSurvey' AJAX action by modifying plugin code or using WordPress hooks to enforce proper security tokens. 3. Restrict administrative access to trusted networks or VPNs to reduce exposure to CSRF attempts. 4. Educate site administrators about the risks of clicking unsolicited links, especially those received via email or external websites, to reduce the likelihood of social engineering exploitation. 5. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers and SameSite cookie attributes to mitigate CSRF risks at the browser level. 6. Regularly audit WordPress plugins for security compliance and consider alternative survey plugins with stronger security postures if timely patches are unavailable. 7. Implement web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules to detect and block suspicious AJAX requests targeting the vulnerable action. 8. Monitor logs for unusual survey duplication activities to detect potential exploitation attempts early.