CVE-2025-49285 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the WordPress plugin "WP Cookie Notice for GDPR, CCPA & ePrivacy Consent" developed by WP Legal Pages. This plugin is designed to help website owners comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and ePrivacy by managing cookie consent notices. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 3.8.0. CSRF vulnerabilities allow an attacker to trick an authenticated user into unknowingly submitting a forged request to the vulnerable web application, potentially causing unintended actions without the user's consent. In this case, the vulnerability could allow an attacker to manipulate cookie consent settings or other plugin-related configurations by exploiting the lack of proper anti-CSRF protections such as tokens or referer checks. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium severity), with the vector indicating that the attack can be performed remotely (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), but does require user interaction (UI:R). The impact is limited to integrity (I:L) with no confidentiality or availability impact. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability is publicly disclosed as of June 6, 2025.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily because the affected plugin is widely used by websites to manage cookie consent in compliance with stringent European privacy laws such as GDPR. An attacker exploiting this CSRF flaw could alter cookie consent settings or manipulate the plugin's behavior, potentially causing non-compliance with legal requirements or misleading users about their privacy choices. This could lead to regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage, and loss of user trust. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, the integrity impact could indirectly affect compliance and user privacy. Organizations relying on this plugin for cookie consent management should be aware that attackers might exploit this to bypass or alter consent mechanisms, which is particularly sensitive in the European context where privacy regulations are rigorously enforced.

European organizations should take the following specific steps: 1) Immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify if the vulnerable versions (up to 3.8.0) of the WP Cookie Notice plugin are in use. 2) Monitor official vendor channels and security advisories for patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-49285 and apply them promptly once available. 3) As a temporary mitigation, implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious POST requests that could be CSRF attempts targeting the plugin's endpoints. 4) Enforce strict Content Security Policy (CSP) and SameSite cookie attributes to reduce the risk of CSRF exploitation. 5) Educate site administrators and users about phishing and social engineering tactics that could facilitate CSRF attacks, emphasizing the importance of logging out of admin sessions when not in use. 6) Consider alternative cookie consent solutions with robust security controls if patching is delayed. 7) Regularly review and harden WordPress security configurations, including limiting plugin permissions and using security plugins that provide CSRF protection.