The Photo Gallery by Ays – Responsive Image Gallery WordPress plugin suffers from a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-13685. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 6.4.8 due to the absence of nonce verification in the 'process_bulk_action()' function, which handles bulk operations like deleting, publishing, or unpublishing galleries. Nonce tokens in WordPress are security measures designed to ensure that requests are intentional and originate from legitimate users. Without this verification, attackers can craft malicious URLs or forms that, when visited or submitted by an authenticated administrator, trigger unauthorized bulk actions on the galleries. The attack vector requires no privileges or authentication by the attacker but depends on social engineering to convince an administrator to interact with the malicious request (user interaction required). The vulnerability impacts the integrity of the gallery content by allowing unauthorized modifications but does not affect confidentiality or availability directly. The CVSS 3.1 score of 4.3 reflects this limited scope, with an attack vector of network, low attack complexity, no privileges required, user interaction necessary, and unchanged scope. No patches or official fixes are currently linked, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, a common web security weakness related to CSRF attacks.

For European organizations, especially those relying on WordPress sites with the Photo Gallery by Ays plugin, this vulnerability poses a risk to the integrity of their web content. Unauthorized bulk deletion or modification of galleries can disrupt business operations, damage brand reputation, and result in data loss or content unavailability. Media companies, e-commerce platforms with product galleries, and cultural institutions that showcase digital collections are particularly vulnerable. Although the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, the unauthorized changes can lead to operational disruptions and potential compliance issues under regulations like GDPR if data integrity is compromised. The requirement for user interaction limits mass exploitation but does not eliminate risk, as phishing or social engineering campaigns targeting administrators could facilitate attacks. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests a window for proactive mitigation before active exploitation occurs.

To mitigate CVE-2025-13685, organizations should first verify if they use the affected Photo Gallery by Ays plugin version 6.4.8 or earlier. Since no official patch is currently available, administrators should implement the following measures: (1) Restrict bulk action permissions strictly to trusted administrator roles to minimize exposure. (2) Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious bulk action requests lacking valid nonce tokens. (3) Educate administrators and content managers about phishing and social engineering tactics to reduce the risk of clicking malicious links. (4) Monitor server and application logs for unusual bulk action activities. (5) Consider temporarily disabling bulk action features or replacing the plugin with a more secure alternative until an official patch is released. (6) Follow WordPress security best practices, including keeping all plugins and core software up to date and implementing multi-factor authentication for administrator accounts.