CVE-2025-9376 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the WordPress plugin 'Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers and Spiders and Anti Spam Protection' developed by sminozzi. The vulnerability arises from an incorrect authorization check (CWE-863) in the function 'stopbadbots_check_wordpress_logged_in_cookie' present in all versions up to and including 11.58. This function fails to properly verify user capabilities, allowing unauthenticated attackers to bypass critical plugin protections such as blocklists and rate limiting mechanisms. As a result, attackers can evade restrictions designed to prevent malicious bots, crawlers, spiders, and spam activities on WordPress sites using this plugin. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication or user interaction, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (medium severity). The impact primarily affects the confidentiality and availability aspects of the targeted sites, as unauthorized bots can access or overload resources that should be protected. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches have been linked yet. However, the widespread use of this plugin in WordPress environments makes it a significant concern for site administrators aiming to maintain robust bot and spam defenses.

For European organizations, this vulnerability can lead to increased exposure to automated attacks such as web scraping, spam injection, and denial-of-service attempts via malicious bots. Organizations relying on this plugin to protect their WordPress sites may experience unauthorized data access or service degradation due to bypassed rate limits and blocklists. This can compromise sensitive information confidentiality, degrade user experience, and potentially damage organizational reputation. Industries with high web presence in Europe, such as e-commerce, media, and public sector websites, are particularly at risk. Additionally, the vulnerability could facilitate further exploitation by enabling attackers to probe other weaknesses or launch more complex attacks once bot defenses are circumvented.

European organizations should immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify the presence of the affected plugin versions (up to 11.58). Until an official patch is released, administrators should consider disabling the plugin or restricting access to critical site areas via alternative means such as web application firewalls (WAFs) or server-level rate limiting. Monitoring web traffic for unusual bot activity and implementing additional bot management solutions can help mitigate exploitation risks. Organizations should subscribe to vendor and security advisories for timely patch updates and apply them promptly once available. Furthermore, reviewing and tightening WordPress user capability configurations and employing multi-layered security controls will reduce the attack surface. Regular security assessments and penetration testing focusing on bot defenses are recommended to detect any bypass attempts.