Overview
The CVE-2025-5948 vulnerability is a critical security flaw discovered in the Service Finder Bookings plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability allows for privilege escalation via account takeover, affecting all versions of the plugin up to and including 6.0. The flaw matters significantly as it allows for unauthenticated attackers to potentially login as any user, including admins, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
This vulnerability specifically affects WordPress sites utilizing the Service Finder Bookings plugin and has the potential to impact millions of businesses globally that depend on this platform for their online presence. Given the potential severity of this vulnerability, it’s crucial for any organization utilizing this plugin to take immediate steps to address this risk.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-5948
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (Subscriber privileges)
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
Service Finder Bookings Plugin for WordPress | Up to and including 6.0
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of the plugin’s lack of proper user identity validation before claiming a business using the claim_business AJAX action. This lack of validation makes it possible for an unauthenticated attacker to log in as any user, including admins.
To complete the business takeover, the attacker would need subscriber privileges or to brute-force valid IDs. The claim_id is required to takeover the admin account, but brute-forcing is a practical approach to obtaining valid IDs.
Conceptual Example Code
An example of exploiting this vulnerability might look like the following pseudocode:
POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=claim_business HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
{ "claim_id": "brute_force or known_valid_id", "user": "admin" }In this example, the attacker is sending a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint, using either a brute-forced or known valid claim_id, and attempting to gain access as the ‘admin’ user.
Mitigation Guidance
Given the potential severity of this vulnerability, it’s recommended to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation, reducing the risk of a successful exploit.
Remember to always keep your WordPress plugins up-to-date and monitor your systems for any unusual or suspicious activity. Regular penetration testing and vulnerability assessments can further help identify and mitigate such vulnerabilities before they are exploited.
