CVE-2025-14462 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the Lucky Draw Contests plugin for WordPress, maintained by owais4377. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 4.2 due to missing or incorrect nonce validation in the misc-settings.php file. Nonces in WordPress are security tokens used to verify that requests originate from legitimate users and prevent unauthorized actions. The absence or improper implementation of nonce validation allows attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator (via clicking a link or visiting a malicious page), can alter plugin settings without the administrator's consent. Since the vulnerability requires no prior authentication but does require user interaction (an administrator must be tricked), it falls under CWE-352. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a medium severity primarily due to the low impact on confidentiality and availability but moderate impact on integrity. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity and no privileges required. The scope remains unchanged as the attack affects only the vulnerable plugin instance. No known exploits have been reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet, indicating the need for vigilance and proactive mitigation by administrators. This vulnerability could be leveraged to manipulate contest settings, potentially undermining the fairness or operation of marketing campaigns relying on the plugin.

For European organizations, the primary impact of this vulnerability lies in the potential unauthorized modification of plugin settings, which could disrupt marketing campaigns, contests, or promotions managed via the Lucky Draw Contests plugin. Although it does not directly compromise sensitive data confidentiality or system availability, integrity violations could damage brand reputation, lead to loss of customer trust, or cause financial losses if contests are manipulated unfairly. Organizations relying on this plugin for customer engagement or lead generation may experience operational disruptions. Since exploitation requires an administrator to be tricked into clicking a malicious link, targeted phishing campaigns could be used to exploit this vulnerability. This risk is heightened in sectors with active marketing and e-commerce activities, common in many European countries. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate the risk of future attacks, especially as threat actors often weaponize such vulnerabilities after disclosure.

To mitigate CVE-2025-14462, European organizations should first verify if they use the Lucky Draw Contests plugin and identify the version in use. Immediate steps include: 1) Applying any available patches or updates from the plugin developer once released; 2) If no patch is available, temporarily disabling the plugin or restricting administrative access to trusted networks and users; 3) Implementing Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting misc-settings.php or containing forged nonces; 4) Educating administrators about phishing risks and the importance of not clicking on unsolicited links, especially when logged into WordPress admin panels; 5) Enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for WordPress admin accounts to reduce the risk of account compromise; 6) Monitoring logs for unusual changes to plugin settings or unexpected administrative actions; 7) Reviewing and hardening WordPress security configurations, including limiting plugin installations to trusted sources. These measures collectively reduce the attack surface and mitigate the risk of exploitation until a formal patch is available.