Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, maintaining the integrity and security of data is of paramount importance. A recent vulnerability, CVE-2025-5071, has been identified in the AI Engine plugin for WordPress. It affects versions 2.8.0 to 2.8.3 and potentially exposes user data to unauthorized modification and loss. This vulnerability is particularly alarming because it allows authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access and above to execute commands that can lead to privilege escalation, data modification, and deletion.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-5071
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level Access)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential 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
AI Engine WordPress Plugin | 2.8.0 to 2.8.3
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability stems from a missing capability check in the ‘Meow_MWAI_Labs_MCP::can_access_mcp’ function of the AI Engine plugin for WordPress. This flaw can be exploited by an attacker who has subscriber-level access or above to the WordPress site running the vulnerable plugin.
The attacker can leverage this vulnerability to run various commands including ‘wp_create_user’, ‘wp_update_user’ and ‘wp_update_option’, potentially leading to privilege escalation. They can also execute ‘wp_update_post’, ‘wp_delete_post’, ‘wp_update_comment’ and ‘wp_delete_comment’, which can be used to modify or delete posts and comments.
Conceptual Example Code
Assuming an attacker has authenticated access, they could potentially send a malicious HTTP request such as:
POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
action=ai-engine-mcp&command=wp_update_user&user_id=1&role=administratorIn this conceptual example, the attacker is trying to escalate their privileges by changing the role of a user (with id 1) to ‘administrator’.
Recommendations
It is imperative to mitigate this vulnerability immediately. The vendor has already provided a patch. Users are strongly advised to apply this patch at the earliest possible opportunity. If immediate application of the patch is not possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation strategy. Regularly updating and patching software is a critical part of maintaining strong security practices and can prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities.