CVE-2025-7504: friends vulnerability

What is known

The Friends plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in version 3.5.1 via deserialization of untrusted input of the query_vars parameter This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present. This requires access to the sites SALT_NONCE and and SALT_KEY to exploit.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-7504, a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) affecting friends, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether friends is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
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