CVE-2025-49426 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the Dourou Cookie Warning product, affecting versions up to 1.3. CSRF vulnerabilities allow an attacker to trick an authenticated user into submitting a forged HTTP request to a web application, potentially causing unintended actions on behalf of the user without their consent. In this case, the vulnerability affects the Cookie Warning component, which is typically used to manage user consent for cookies in compliance with privacy regulations. The vulnerability does not impact confidentiality or availability directly but can lead to integrity issues by allowing unauthorized changes to user cookie consent settings or related configurations. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium severity), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), user interaction required (UI:R), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality impact (C:N), low integrity impact (I:L), and no availability impact (A:N). No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no patches are currently linked. The vulnerability requires the victim to be authenticated and to interact with a malicious link or site to trigger the CSRF attack. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, which covers CSRF issues. Given the nature of the product, the attack surface is primarily web applications using the Dourou Cookie Warning plugin or module to manage cookie consent banners and related functionality.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily because cookie consent management is a critical component for compliance with the EU's GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. An attacker exploiting this CSRF flaw could manipulate cookie consent settings without user approval, potentially leading to unauthorized tracking or privacy violations. This could result in regulatory non-compliance, reputational damage, and potential fines. Although the vulnerability does not directly compromise sensitive data or system availability, the integrity of user consent records and privacy controls is undermined. Organizations relying on the affected Dourou Cookie Warning versions may face challenges in maintaining lawful cookie practices, which is especially sensitive in Europe due to stringent privacy laws. Additionally, attackers could use this vulnerability as part of a broader attack chain to influence user sessions or privacy settings, indirectly facilitating further exploitation or data leakage.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Immediately verify if their web applications use Dourou Cookie Warning versions up to 1.3 and plan to upgrade to a patched version once available. 2) Implement anti-CSRF tokens (synchronizer tokens) in all state-changing requests related to cookie consent management to ensure requests are legitimate and initiated by authenticated users. 3) Employ SameSite cookie attributes (preferably 'Strict' or 'Lax') to reduce the risk of CSRF by restricting cross-origin cookie transmission. 4) Enforce Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts that could facilitate CSRF attacks. 5) Educate users and administrators about the risks of clicking on suspicious links, especially when authenticated to sensitive web applications. 6) Monitor web application logs for unusual or unauthorized changes to cookie consent settings. 7) Consider implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative interfaces to reduce the risk of session hijacking that could be leveraged in CSRF attacks. 8) Regularly review and audit web application security controls related to user session management and input validation.