CVE-2025-1279: Unauthorized Data Modification and Privilege Escalation in BM Content Builder for WordPress

Overview

The BM Content Builder plugin for WordPress is a popular tool used to enhance website functionality. However, a significant vulnerability has been identified, dubbed CVE-2025-1279, which could potentially allow unauthorized modification of data, leading to privilege escalation. This vulnerability affects all versions of the BM Content Builder plugin up to, and including, 3.16.2.1. The vulnerability matters due to its potential to compromise systems and leak data, impacting businesses and users relying on WordPress for their online presence.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-1279
Severity: High (8.8 CVSSv3)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access and above)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unauthorized modification of data, privilege escalation, potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

BM Content Builder for WordPress | Up to 3.16.2.1

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability arises from a missing capability check on the ux_cb_tools_import_item_ajax AJAX action in the BM Content Builder plugin. This oversight allows authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. Particularly, an attacker can modify the default role for registration to administrator and enable user registration. This allows the attacker to register as an administrator, giving them full administrative access to the vulnerable site.

Conceptual Example Code

Here is a conceptual example of a malicious HTTP request exploiting this vulnerability:

POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-wordpress-site.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Cookie: wordpress_logged_in_[hash]=[user's WordPress login cookie]
action=ux_cb_tools_import_item_ajax&item={ "setting": { "default_role": "administrator", "users_can_register": 1 } }

In this example, the attacker sends a POST request to the admin-ajax.php file (the AJAX API endpoint in WordPress). The action parameter is set to ‘ux_cb_tools_import_item_ajax’, and the ‘item’ parameter is set to change the ‘default_role’ to ‘administrator’ and ‘users_can_register’ to 1 (enabled). The attacker requires the user’s WordPress login cookie to authenticate the request.

Mitigation Guidance

The most effective solution to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-provided patch. If immediate patching is not possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation. Ensure to keep your systems updated and regularly scrutinize your user privileges and system access policies to prevent unauthorized access or privilege escalation.