CVE-2025-3852: WPshop 2 – E-Commerce Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Overview

The cybersecurity landscape is fraught with vulnerabilities that could lead to significant data breaches and system compromises. One such vulnerability, CVE-2025-3852, is present in the WPshop 2 – E-Commerce plugin for WordPress versions 2.0.0 to 2.6.0. This vulnerability is a serious threat due to its potential to allow an attacker to escalate privileges and take over an account. As the plugin is used widely for e-commerce purposes on WordPress, the vulnerability presents a significant risk to numerous businesses and individuals who depend on the platform for their online transactions.
The vulnerability matters because it could potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage, which could be devastating to the affected users. Both personal and financial information could be at stake, and the repercussions of such a breach could be far-reaching, impacting not just individual users, but also businesses and their reputations.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-3852
Severity: High (8.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (subscriber-level access)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

WPshop 2 – E-Commerce Plugin for WordPress | 2.0.0 to 2.6.0

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability arises from the plugin’s failure to properly validate a user’s identity before updating their details through the update() function. An attacker with subscriber-level access or above could exploit this vulnerability by altering arbitrary users’ passwords, including administrators. This allows the attacker to access, and potentially take over, these accounts.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:

POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wpshop_ajax&action2=update HTTP/1.1
Host: target-site.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
user_id=target_user_id&email=attacker_email&pass=attacker_pass

In this example, the attacker sends a POST request to the update function, changing the target user’s email and password to their own. With this, the attacker would have successfully taken over the target user’s account.