{"id":38479,"date":"2025-05-15T18:02:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T18:02:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-07T04:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T10:21:19","slug":"cve-2025-2253-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-imithemes-listing-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2253-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-imithemes-listing-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-2253: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in IMITHEMES Listing Plugin<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity landscape is consistently evolving, with new threats emerging on a daily basis. Among the most recent threats is a new vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-2253 in the IMITHEMES Listing plugin. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1909-authentication-bypass-vulnerability-in-buddyboss-platform-pro-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43201\">vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin<\/a> up to and including version 3.3 and could potentially pose a significant risk to any website using it. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-37445-critical-out-of-bounds-read-vulnerabilities-in-gtkwave\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43140\">criticality of this vulnerability<\/a> lies in its ability to allow an unauthenticated attacker to escalate privileges via account takeover, leading to potential system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-2253<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (9.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Remote<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4372-webaudio-heap-corruption-in-google-chrome-a-potential-gateway-to-system-compromise-and-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43809\">System compromise or data<\/a> leakage. Successful exploitation may allow an attacker to change any user&#8217;s passwords, including administrators, leading to unauthorized <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-49129-stack-overflow-vulnerability-in-solid-edge-se2023-allows-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43527\">system access and potential<\/a> data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2763112967\" 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>IMITHEMES <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6994-privilege-escalation-in-reveal-listing-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79676\">Listing Plugin<\/a> | Up to and including 3.3<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4335-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-woocommerce-multiple-addresses-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43715\">vulnerability stems from the plugin&#8217;s<\/a> improper validation of a verification code value before updating a user&#8217;s password through the imic_reset_password_init() function. This oversight allows an attacker to send a crafted request to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4558-unverified-password-change-vulnerability-in-gpm-from-wormhole-tech\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"45438\">password reset function and change<\/a> any user&#8217;s password. An attacker would only need to know the victim&#8217;s email address to change the victim&#8217;s password, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2776-unauthenticated-xxe-vulnerability-in-sysaid-on-prem-leading-to-admin-account-takeover\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43699\">leading to account<\/a> takeover.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3159911700\" 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>Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This hypothetical HTTP request shows the manipulation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-48936-zitadel-open-source-software-password-reset-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57780\">password reset<\/a> function:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=imic_reset_password_init HTTP\/1.1\nHost: targetwebsite.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\nemail=targetuser%40email.com&amp;newpassword=attackerpassword&amp;verification_code=crafted_code<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, an attacker sends a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6162-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-totolink-ex1200t-http-post-request-handler\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79677\">POST request<\/a> to the imic_reset_password_init function with a crafted verification code and a new password. If successful, this would change the password of the target user, thus granting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46739-unauthenticated-brute-force-attack-leads-to-account-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"46403\">attacker access to the user&#8217;s account<\/a>.<br \/>\nIn conclusion, CVE-2025-2253 is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-38623-severe-integer-overflow-vulnerabilities-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43239\">severe vulnerability<\/a> that requires immediate attention. It is recommended to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch as soon as it&#8217;s available. Meanwhile, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as temporary mitigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The cybersecurity landscape is consistently evolving, with new threats emerging on a daily basis. Among the most recent threats is a new vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-2253 in the IMITHEMES Listing plugin. This vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin up to and including version 3.3 and could potentially pose a significant risk to any [&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-38479","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\/38479","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=38479"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72115,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38479\/revisions\/72115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=38479"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=38479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}