{"id":57159,"date":"2025-07-04T14:24:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T14:24:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-16T07:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:09:07","slug":"cve-2025-5304-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-pt-project-notebooks-plugin-for-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5304-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-pt-project-notebooks-plugin-for-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"CVE-2025-5304: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in PT Project Notebooks Plugin for WordPress<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

CVE-2025-5304 is a high-severity vulnerability found in the PT Project Notebooks plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability is of particular concern due to its potential to allow unauthenticated attackers to elevate their privileges to that of an administrator. As WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in the world, this vulnerability could potentially<\/a> affect millions of websites worldwide, leading to system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n

Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

CVE ID: CVE-2025-5304
\nSeverity: Critical (9.8 CVSS)
\nAttack Vector: Network
\nPrivileges Required: None
\nUser Interaction: None
\nImpact: Privilege escalation<\/a> leading to potential system compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n

Affected Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n

PT Project Notebooks Plugin for WordPress<\/a> | 1.0.0 – 1.1.3<\/p>\n

How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vulnerability exists due to missing authorization<\/a> in the wpnb_pto_new_users_add() function of the PT Project Notebooks plugin for WordPress. This function, which is meant to add new users, does not properly check the user’s privileges<\/a> before performing its task. Because of this, an unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially<\/a> crafted request to this function, thereby gaining administrator privileges.<\/p>\n

Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s a simplified example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:<\/p>\n

POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=wpnb_pto_new_users_add HTTP\/1.1\nHost: vulnerable-website.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\nuser_login=attacker&user_pass=password&role=administrator<\/code><\/pre>\n
In this example, an attacker sends a POST request to the wpnb_pto_new_users_add function, which is accessible via<\/a> the admin-ajax.php endpoint. The request specifies the new user’s login name (attacker), password, and role (administrator). Because the function does not properly check the user’s privileges<\/a> before performing its task, the attacker is able to create a new administrator account.<\/p>\n
Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n
Users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as possible. In the meantime, they can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) for temporary mitigation. These systems can be configured<\/a> to block or alert on suspicious requests to the wpnb_pto_new_users_add function, thus preventing the vulnerability from being exploited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overview CVE-2025-5304 is a high-severity vulnerability found in the PT Project Notebooks plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability is of particular concern due to its potential to allow unauthenticated attackers to elevate their privileges to that of an administrator. As WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in the world, this vulnerability could […]<\/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,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-57159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t