Overview
In the current digital era, security is paramount for all online platforms. This blog post delves into a glaring vulnerability in the WordPress ecosystem. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-7401, affects the Premium Age Verification / Restriction plugin for WordPress. This plugin, designed to aid in restricting content to specific age groups, has been found to suffer from a critical flaw that could expose a website to significant risks. The vulnerability is notable due to its potential impact, as it allows unauthenticated attackers to read from or write to arbitrary files on the website’s server, leading to potential system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-7401
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage due to arbitrary file read/write
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
Premium Age Verification / Restriction for WordPress | All versions up to and including 3.0.2
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the remote support functionality of the plugin, specifically in the remote_tunnel.php file. The insufficiently secured remote support feature can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers to read from or write to arbitrary files on the server. This could lead to the exposure of sensitive information or even remote code execution.
Conceptual Example Code
Here’s a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. This is a sample HTTP POST request that points towards the vulnerable endpoint:
POST /wp-content/plugins/premium-age-verification/restricted_files/remote_tunnel.php HTTP/1.1
Host: victimwebsite.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "command": "read", "filePath": "/etc/passwd" }In this example, an attacker uses the “read” command to read the content of “/etc/passwd”, a sensitive system file. Note that this is a simplified example, and real-world exploits might be more complex.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, the plugin’s vendor has released a patch. Users are strongly encouraged to apply this patch as soon as possible to secure their systems. In the interim, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. As always, keep your systems and software updated to the latest version, and monitor your server logs for any suspicious activities.