{"id":72671,"date":"2025-09-07T16:10:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T16:10:03","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-03T12:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:33:15","slug":"cve-2025-53243-critical-vulnerability-in-wordpress-employee-directory-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53243-critical-vulnerability-in-wordpress-employee-directory-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-53243: Critical Vulnerability in WordPress Employee Directory Plugin<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CVE-2025-53243 represents a severe deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability found in the Employee Directory &#8211; Staff Listing &#038; Team Directory Plugin, which is widely used in WordPress. WordPress, being one of the most popular content management systems globally, is frequently targeted by cybercriminals, making this vulnerability a significant concern. If exploited, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2020-9322-statamic-core-xss-vulnerability-leading-to-unauthorized-admin-account-creation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80291\">vulnerability could potentially lead<\/a> to a system compromise or data leakage, greatly impacting businesses and individuals using this plugin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-53243<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS: 8.1)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5997-privileged-api-misuse-leads-to-potential-system-compromise-in-beamsec-phishpro\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80842\">System compromise<\/a> or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-918061560\" 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>Employee Directory &#8211; Staff Listing &#038; Team Directory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8723-cloudflare-image-resizing-plugin-for-wordpress-remote-code-execution-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80947\">Plugin for WordPress<\/a> | Versions up to 4.5.3<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30973-untrusted-data-deserialization-vulnerability-in-coschool-lms\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80356\">vulnerability stems from the deserialization of untrusted data<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-42966-sap-netweaver-xml-data-archiving-service-java-deserialization-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80619\">Deserialization is the process of converting serialized data<\/a> back into its original form. In this case, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53583-untrusted-data-deserialization-vulnerability-in-employee-spotlight\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"85774\">untrusted data is being deserialized<\/a> without proper validation. An attacker could exploit this by sending malicious serialized objects to the application, which, when deserialized, could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54253-misconfiguration-vulnerability-in-adobe-experience-manager-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80259\">lead to arbitrary code<\/a> execution. This could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53192-critical-vulnerability-in-unsupported-apache-commons-ognl-leads-to-potential-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80568\">potentially compromise the system or lead<\/a> to data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1108509763\" 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 this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8714-critical-postgresql-vulnerability-allowing-malicious-code-injection-by-superusers\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80641\">vulnerability might be exploited using a malicious<\/a> payload in a POST request:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/employee-directory\/endpoint HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/json\n{ &quot;malicious_payload&quot;: &quot;Serialized_Object_With_Malicious_Code&quot; }<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In the above example, the attacker sends a serialized object containing malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8420-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-request-a-quote-form-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"82061\">code as part of the POST request<\/a>. When the application deserializes this object, the malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-23310-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-nvidia-triton-inference-server\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80313\">code is executed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most straightforward mitigation is to apply the vendor patch. The developer of the affected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5391-arbitrary-file-deletion-vulnerability-in-woocommerce-purchase-orders-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81306\">plugin has released a patch that fixes the vulnerability<\/a>, and users are advised to upgrade to the latest version immediately.<br \/>\nAs a temporary mitigation, users can also employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS). These systems can detect and prevent known attack patterns associated with this vulnerability, offering some degree of protection until the patch can be applied.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s also good practice to avoid deserializing untrusted data whenever possible and to implement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-24325-improper-input-validation-in-intel-r-800-series-ethernet-driver-allows-potential-escalation-of-privilege\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80468\">input validation<\/a> to prevent such vulnerabilities from being exploited.<br \/>\nRemember, staying vigilant and keeping your systems updated are the best defenses against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/introducing-the-ameeba-cybersecurity-group-chat\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88523\">cybersecurity<\/a> threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The CVE-2025-53243 represents a severe deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability found in the Employee Directory &#8211; Staff Listing &#038; Team Directory Plugin, which is widely used in WordPress. WordPress, being one of the most popular content management systems globally, is frequently targeted by cybercriminals, making this vulnerability a significant concern. If exploited, this vulnerability [&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":[80],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-72671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-rce"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72671","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=72671"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81329,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72671\/revisions\/81329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=72671"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=72671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}