{"id":26664,"date":"2025-04-18T19:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T19:08:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-06-01T11:17:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T17:17:54","slug":"cve-2025-3418-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-wpc-admin-columns-plugin-for-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-3418-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-wpc-admin-columns-plugin-for-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-3418: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in WPC Admin Columns Plugin for WordPress<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity landscape is continuously evolving with new vulnerabilities and threats surfacing regularly. One such recent discovery is the CVE-2025-3418, a privilege escalation vulnerability found in the WPC Admin Columns plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability, affecting versions 2.0.6 to 2.1.0, has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-33033-audio-playback-memory-corruption-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"31247\">potential to compromise systems or lead<\/a> to data leakage. Its identification and understanding is crucial for anyone running a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-6220-piotnet-forms-plugin-vulnerability-in-wordpress-allows-arbitrary-file-uploads\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"34540\">WordPress site using the stated plugin<\/a>, as it allows attackers to escalate their access level, providing them with an unfair advantage over the system resources.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-3418<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS: 8.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access)<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-33113-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"31357\">system compromise or data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3178103671\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>WPC Admin Columns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2007-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-leads-to-arbitrary-file-deletion-and-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"34606\">Plugin for WordPress<\/a> | 2.0.6 to 2.1.0<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability resides in the ajax_edit_save() function of the WPC Admin Columns plugin. This function does not properly restrict <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-48340-critical-csrf-vulnerability-in-danny-vink-user-profile-meta-manager-allows-privilege-escalation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"52888\">user meta<\/a> values that can be updated. As a result, authenticated users with Subscriber-level access and above can manipulate their user meta values to escalate their role to that of an Administrator, gaining full access to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-43514-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"31573\">system resources and potentially<\/a> compromising the entire system or leaking sensitive data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3353608215\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>A conceptual example of how the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-50123-exploitable-vulnerability-in-hozard-alarm-system-sms-authentication\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"35834\">vulnerability might be exploited<\/a> could look like the following HTTP request:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/json\nCookie: wordpress_logged_in_[hash]=username|expiry_time|session_token\n{\n&quot;action&quot;: &quot;wpc_ajax_edit_save&quot;,\n&quot;id&quot;: &quot;wp_capabilities&quot;,\n&quot;value&quot;: &quot;a:1:{s:13:&quot;administrator&quot;;b:1;}&quot;\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker sends an HTTP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-5905-unauthorized-data-export-vulnerability-in-demomentsomtres-wordpress-export-posts-with-images-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"34657\">POST request to the WordPress<\/a> AJAX endpoint, where the action parameter is set to the vulnerable function &#8216;wpc_ajax_edit_save. The &#8216;id&#8217; parameter is set to &#8216;wp_capabilities&#8217;, which is the meta key for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2563-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-user-registration-membership-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"35833\">user roles in WordPress<\/a>, and the &#8216;value&#8217; parameter is set to the serialized PHP array for the Administrator role.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The easiest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43971-critical-vulnerability-in-gobgp-paving-the-way-for-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"40138\">way to mitigate this vulnerability<\/a> is by applying the vendor patch. If the patch cannot be immediately applied, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. These systems can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-50930-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf-in-savignano-s-notify-leading-to-configuration-tampering-and-potential-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"32006\">configured to block or alert on HTTP POST requests<\/a> to the WordPress AJAX endpoint with the action parameter set to &#8216;wpc_ajax_edit_save&#8217; and the &#8216;id&#8217; parameter set to &#8216;wp_capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The cybersecurity landscape is continuously evolving with new vulnerabilities and threats surfacing regularly. One such recent discovery is the CVE-2025-3418, a privilege escalation vulnerability found in the WPC Admin Columns plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability, affecting versions 2.0.6 to 2.1.0, has the potential to compromise systems or lead to data leakage. Its identification and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-26664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26664"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47360,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26664\/revisions\/47360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=26664"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=26664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}