CVE-2025-22304

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-22304 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress plugin WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) by osama.esh, affecting versions up to and including 7.5. This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive visitor statistics data. The vulnerability is classified as a WordPress ecosystem issue, not related to Apache or Nginx. The CVSS score is 4.3 (Medium), with a low EPSS score of 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood in the wild. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is currently available, and no patch has been released.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users are advised to monitor the plugin’s update channel and apply any future patches immediately. Since no patch is available, consider disabling the plugin or implementing strict access controls via a Web Application Firewall (WAF).

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Base Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – No user action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – Vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – Limited data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N) – No data modification.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The low EPSS score and lack of public exploits reduce immediate risk, but the missing authorization could expose sensitive traffic data.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) plugin, which tracks and displays real-time visitor data. The plugin fails to properly enforce authorization checks on certain AJAX endpoints or REST API routes, allowing unauthenticated users to access statistics that should be restricted to administrators.

Root Cause: The plugin uses wp_ajax_nopriv_* hooks or similar mechanisms without verifying user capabilities, or it exposes admin-only functions via wp_ajax_* without proper nonce or capability checks.

Attack Vector: An attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wp_stats_manager_get_data or similar) to retrieve visitor statistics, including IP addresses, user agents, and page views.

Impact: Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive traffic data, which could be used for reconnaissance or privacy violations.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the following is a hypothetical comparison based on common fixes.

Vulnerable Code (wp-stats-manager.php):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_get_stats', 'get_stats_data');
function get_stats_data() {
    // No capability check
    $data = fetch_all_stats();
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

add_action('wp_ajax_get_stats', 'get_stats_data');
function get_stats_data() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $data = fetch_all_stats();
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

The patch adds a capability check (current_user_can('manage_options')) and removes the nopriv hook to restrict access to authenticated administrators.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• Target WordPress site with WP Visitor Statistics plugin <= 7.5.
• No authentication required.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint by analyzing plugin source or using a fuzzer.
2. Send a GET request to the endpoint:

   curl -X GET "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wp_stats_manager_get_data"
   

3. If successful, the response contains JSON with visitor statistics.

Example Request:

curl -v "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=wp_stats_manager_get_data" 2>&1 | grep -E "^(<|{)"

Expected Response (if vulnerable):

{"success":true,"data":{"visitors":[{"ip":"192.168.1.1","user_agent":"Mozilla/5.0","page":"/index.php"}]}}

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters related to wp_stats_manager.
• Look for unauthenticated access to AJAX endpoints that should require authentication.

Mitigation:

• Disable the plugin until a patch is released.
• Use a WAF to block requests to admin-ajax.php with suspicious action parameters.
• Implement network segmentation to limit exposure.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=wp_stats_manager_get_data or similar.
  • Unauthenticated GET/POST requests to plugin-specific endpoints.
• File IOCs:
  • Plugin file: /wp-content/plugins/wp-stats-manager/wp-stats-manager.php
  • Version string in plugin header: Version: 7.5 or lower.
• Log IOCs:
  • Access logs showing admin-ajax.php requests from unknown IPs without a valid session cookie.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_22304_WP_Visitor_Stats {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable WP Visitor Statistics plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2025-22304"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "wp_ajax_nopriv_" ascii wide nocase
        $plugin_header = "WP Visitor Statistics" ascii wide nocase
        $version = "Version: 7.5" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        $plugin_header and $version and $vuln_func
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-22304 - Unauthenticated Access to WP Visitor Statistics
id: 8a3f7c2e-1b4d-4f6a-9c8e-0d1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated requests to WP Visitor Statistics AJAX endpoints
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=wp_stats_manager_get_data'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin requests (should have valid session)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> $HOME_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-22304 - WP Visitor Statistics Unauthenticated Access";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"GET"; http_method;
    content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=wp_stats_manager_get_data"; http_uri;
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
    priority:2;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Actions:
   • Disable the WP Visitor Statistics plugin until a patch is released.
   • If disabling is not possible, restrict access to admin-ajax.php via .htaccess or WAF rules.
2. Long-term Fix:
   • Apply the official patch when released by the vendor.
   • Implement proper capability checks in custom WordPress plugins.
3. Monitoring:
   • Enable logging for all AJAX requests and review for anomalies.
   • Use the provided detection rules to identify exploitation attempts.

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