Overview
The cybersecurity world has been jolted by the discovery of a severe vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-7697, that is making WordPress sites susceptible to a potential system compromise or data leakage. This vulnerability is associated with the WordPress plugin integration for Google Sheets and Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Ninja Forms. It primarily affects all versions up to, and including, 1.1.1. The severity of this vulnerability is significant due to the potential for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object, thereby leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-7697
Severity: Critical (CVSS score: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Network (via PHP Object Injection)
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, Data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
WordPress Plugin Integration for Google Sheets and Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Ninja Forms | Up to and including 1.1.1
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the verify_field_val() function of the affected plugin, which deserializes untrusted input, making it susceptible to PHP Object Injection. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this by sending a manipulated payload that allows them to inject a PHP Object. Moreover, the presence of a POP (Property-Oriented Programming) chain in the Contact Form 7 plugin, often used alongside the vulnerable plugin, amplifies the exploit. It allows the attackers to delete arbitrary files, causing a denial of service or executing remote code when the wp-config.php file is deleted.
Conceptual Example Code
The following conceptual example shows how an attacker might exploit the vulnerability. This could be a sample HTTP request containing a malicious payload:
POST /wp-content/plugins/vulnerable-plugin/verify_field_val HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "malicious_payload": "<?php class Injection {...}; unserialize('O:9:\"Injection\"...');" }In this example, the “malicious_payload” would contain a serialized PHP object designed to exploit the PHP Object Injection vulnerability.
Mitigation Guidance
Users affected by this vulnerability are strongly advised to apply the vendor patch immediately. If for any reason immediate patching is not possible, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. However, these should not be viewed as long-term solutions due to the high severity of the vulnerability.