CVE-2025-49856 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in CyberChimps Responsive Plus, a WordPress theme/plugin widely used for creating responsive websites. The vulnerability affects versions up to 3.2.2, allowing an attacker to trick an authenticated user into submitting unwanted actions on the website without their consent. Specifically, CSRF exploits the trust a web application places in the user's browser by sending unauthorized commands from a user that the web application trusts. In this case, the vulnerability does not impact confidentiality or availability but can lead to integrity issues, such as unauthorized changes to site settings or content modifications. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium severity), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based (remote), requires no privileges, but does require user interaction (the user must be tricked into clicking a malicious link or visiting a crafted webpage). The vulnerability scope is unchanged, meaning it affects only the vulnerable component without extending to other system components. No known public exploits or patches are currently available, indicating the vulnerability is newly disclosed and may not yet be actively exploited in the wild. The lack of patches suggests that users of Responsive Plus should be cautious and monitor for updates from CyberChimps. The vulnerability arises from insufficient anti-CSRF protections, such as missing or ineffective CSRF tokens in state-changing requests, allowing attackers to forge requests that the server accepts as legitimate.

For European organizations using CyberChimps Responsive Plus, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to website integrity. Attackers could manipulate site configurations, inject unauthorized content, or perform administrative actions if users with sufficient privileges are tricked into executing malicious requests. This could lead to defacement, misinformation dissemination, or disruption of normal website operations, potentially damaging brand reputation and user trust. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise sensitive data confidentiality or system availability, the integrity impact can have downstream effects, such as enabling phishing campaigns or facilitating further attacks. Organizations in sectors with high reliance on web presence—such as e-commerce, media, education, and government—may face increased risks if their websites use the affected theme. Additionally, the requirement for user interaction means that social engineering or phishing tactics could be leveraged, increasing the attack surface. Given the widespread use of WordPress themes in Europe, especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and public sector websites, the impact could be significant if not mitigated promptly.

1. Immediate mitigation involves disabling or restricting access to administrative functions exposed via the Responsive Plus theme until a patch is released. 2. Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious CSRF attempts targeting known endpoints of Responsive Plus. 3. Educate users, especially administrators, about the risks of clicking unsolicited links or visiting untrusted websites while logged into their CMS. 4. Monitor web server logs for unusual POST requests or unexpected parameter changes that could indicate exploitation attempts. 5. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to reduce the risk of malicious external content triggering CSRF attacks. 6. Regularly check CyberChimps official channels for security updates or patches and apply them promptly once available. 7. Consider deploying additional anti-CSRF plugins or security modules that enforce token validation on all state-changing requests within WordPress. 8. Conduct internal security audits of the website to identify and remediate any other potential vulnerabilities that could be chained with CSRF for greater impact.