Overview
In this post, we explore an important cybersecurity vulnerability, CVE-2025-5692, which affects the Lead Form Data Collection to CRM Plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized modification of data and privilege escalation. It is particularly concerning because it can enable attackers with Subscriber-level access to escalate their privileges to the administrator level, thereby gaining full control over the vulnerable WordPress site. Such control could potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage, putting sensitive information at risk.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-5692
Severity: High (8.8 CVSS)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unauthorized modification of data, privilege escalation, potential system compromise, and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Lead Form Data Collection to CRM Plugin for WordPress | All versions up to, and including, 3.1
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the doFieldAjaxAction() function used by the plugin, which lacks a proper capability check. This oversight allows authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access to exploit AJAX actions that handle plugin settings, which are insufficiently protected. Consequently, the attackers can update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. For instance, they can modify the default role for registration to the administrator and enable user registration. This allows the attackers to register as administrators themselves, thereby gaining administrative user access to the vulnerable WordPress site.
Conceptual Example Code
A conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited is as follows:
POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerablewebsite.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
action=lead_form_data_collection_to_crm_plugin&task=update_option&option_name=default_role&option_value=administratorIn this example, the attacker sends a POST request to the admin-ajax.php file, which is used to process AJAX requests in WordPress. The action parameter is set to the vulnerable plugin’s handle, and the task parameter is set to update_option. The option_name parameter is set to default_role, and the option_value is set to administrator. This effectively changes the default user role to administrator.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. If the patch is not yet available, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could serve as temporary mitigation. These systems can be configured to detect and block suspicious activities related to this exploit. In the meantime, it is also advisable to restrict user registration and limit the permissions of new users to prevent potential attacks.