{"id":34126,"date":"2025-05-02T08:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T08:41:56","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-27T08:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T14:15:12","slug":"cve-2025-2238-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-vikinger-wordpress-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2238-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-vikinger-wordpress-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-2238: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Vikinger WordPress Theme<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE-2025-2238 is a critical software vulnerability that resides in the Vikinger theme for WordPress. It poses a substantial security risk to website owners using this theme, as it allows attackers to escalate their privileges from Subscriber-level access to Administrator-level. This potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-3761-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-my-tickets-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"39989\">privilege escalation<\/a> exposes websites and their data to potential compromise and leakage, causing severe damage to businesses and their reputation.<br \/>\nThis vulnerability is significant, considering the popularity of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4317-thegem-wordpress-theme-vulnerability-leading-to-arbitrary-file-uploads\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"48176\">WordPress and the widespread use of the Vikinger theme<\/a>. The severity of this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-7032-security-flaw-allowing-privilege-escalation-through-untrusted-data-deserialization\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"47513\">security flaw<\/a> underscores the importance of continuous security assessment and prompt patch application to ensure safe and secure operations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-2238<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (8.8 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access)<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32849-vulnerability-in-telecontrol-server-basic-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"39256\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1559981621\" 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: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\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: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\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: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Vikinger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8592-wordpress-inspiro-theme-vulnerability-to-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"85396\">WordPress Theme<\/a> | All versions up to and including 1.9.30<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49661-untrusted-pointer-dereference-vulnerability-in-windows-ancillary-function-driver-for-winsock\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80417\">vulnerability lies in the &#8216;vikinger_user_meta_update_ajax&#8217; function<\/a>, which lacks sufficient user_meta restrictions. Authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or above can exploit this flaw to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-28237-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-worldcast-systems-ecreso-fm-dab-tv-transmitter\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"40013\">escalate their privileges<\/a> to Administrator-level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-471161573\" 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>The following is a conceptual HTTP request that an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-3200-unauthenticated-remote-attacker-exploiting-insecure-tls-protocols\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"40804\">attacker might use to exploit<\/a> the vulnerability:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=vikinger_user_meta_update_ajax HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\nuser_id=1&amp;meta_key=wp_capabilities&amp;meta_value=a%3A1%3A%7Bs%3A13%3A%22administrator%22%3Bs%3A1%3A%221%22%3B%7D<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the `user_id` is set to `1`, which typically refers to the first created user or the administrator. The `meta_key` is `wp_capabilities`, which holds the user role information. The `meta_value` is a URL encoded serialized array that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46273-critical-vulnerability-in-uni-nms-lite-can-grant-administrative-privileges-to-unauthenticated-attacker\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41509\">grants administrator privileges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are urged to apply the vendor-provided patch as soon as possible. Until the patch is applied, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5485-a-critical-vulnerability-pertaining-to-user-name-enumeration-in-web-management-interfaces\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80418\">users can use a Web<\/a> Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation method. This solution can help detect and block potential exploits <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cisa-s-recent-warning-on-new-malware-targeting-ivanti-zero-day-vulnerability-a-comprehensive-analysis\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"39255\">targeting this vulnerability<\/a>. However, this should not be seen as a long-term solution, and applying the security patch should be prioritized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview CVE-2025-2238 is a critical software vulnerability that resides in the Vikinger theme for WordPress. It poses a substantial security risk to website owners using this theme, as it allows attackers to escalate their privileges from Subscriber-level access to Administrator-level. This potential privilege escalation exposes websites and their data to potential compromise and leakage, causing [&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-34126","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\/34126","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=34126"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78185,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34126\/revisions\/78185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=34126"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=34126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}