CVE-2025-24591

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-24591 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Ninja Team GDPR CCPA Compliance Support plugin for WordPress (slug: ninja-gdpr-compliance). This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or manipulation of cookie consent settings. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 2.7.1. As of this report, no official patch has been released, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is available. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating a low probability of active exploitation in the wild, but the risk remains due to the widespread use of GDPR compliance plugins.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability resides in a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users who installed the plugin directly from the WordPress dashboard or via ZIP upload are affected. No known supply chain compromise has been reported, but the lack of a patch increases the risk of malicious actors injecting backdoors or exploiting the missing authorization to modify plugin files.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: None
• Integrity Impact: Low
• Availability Impact: None

The vulnerability is classified as Medium severity due to the low attack complexity and no required privileges, but the impact is limited to integrity (low). An attacker could potentially modify cookie consent banners or GDPR compliance settings without authentication.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the plugin's AJAX handlers or REST API endpoints. The plugin likely exposes functions to manage cookie consent banners, GDPR settings, or user data preferences without verifying the user's capabilities (e.g., manage_options). This allows any unauthenticated visitor to send crafted requests to modify plugin configurations.

Root Cause: The plugin fails to implement current_user_can() checks before executing sensitive operations. For example, an endpoint like wp_ajax_nopriv_* or a REST route may be registered without proper permission validation.

Attack Vector: An attacker sends a specially crafted HTTP request to the WordPress site, targeting the vulnerable endpoint. The request could include parameters to change the consent banner text, disable GDPR features, or exfiltrate stored consent logs.

Impact: Successful exploitation could lead to:

• Unauthorized modification of cookie consent banners (e.g., hiding the banner or changing compliance text).
• Disabling GDPR compliance features, potentially violating legal requirements.
• Access to or manipulation of user consent data (if stored in the database).

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only analyze the vulnerable code pattern. The vulnerable plugin likely contains code similar to:

// Vulnerable: No capability check
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_update_gdpr_settings', 'handle_gdpr_update');
function handle_gdpr_update() {
    // Process and save settings without checking user permissions
    update_option('gdpr_banner_text', $_POST['banner_text']);
    wp_send_json_success();
}

A patched version would include:

// Patched: Capability check added
add_action('wp_ajax_update_gdpr_settings', 'handle_gdpr_update');
function handle_gdpr_update() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    // Process and save settings
    update_option('gdpr_banner_text', sanitize_text_field($_POST['banner_text']));
    wp_send_json_success();
}

The key difference is the addition of current_user_can('manage_options') and the use of wp_ajax_ (authenticated) instead of wp_ajax_nopriv_ (unauthenticated).

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attacker)

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress site with the vulnerable plugin (version <= 2.7.1) installed and activated.
• Network access to the target site.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint: Use a tool like Burp Suite or curl to probe for AJAX actions. Common patterns include admin-ajax.php?action=* or REST routes like wp-json/gdpr/v1/*.

2. Craft the exploit request: Send a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint with malicious parameters.

# Example: Modify GDPR banner text
curl -X POST https://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php \
  -d "action=update_gdpr_settings&banner_text=Hacked%20Banner"

3. Verify exploitation: Check if the banner text changed on the frontend or if settings were altered.

Note: Since no public PoC exists, the exact endpoint and parameters must be discovered through reverse engineering or fuzzing.

Blue Team (Defender)

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual AJAX requests: Look for POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with actions related to GDPR settings (e.g., update_gdpr_settings, save_consent_options).

2. Check for unauthorized changes: Regularly audit the wp_options table for unexpected modifications to GDPR-related options (e.g., gdpr_banner_text, gdpr_enabled).

3. Review access logs: Identify requests from IPs that are not associated with known administrators.

Honeypot Setup: Deploy a decoy WordPress site with the vulnerable plugin to capture exploitation attempts.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File Modifications: Changes to plugin files in /wp-content/plugins/ninja-gdpr-compliance/ (e.g., altered PHP files).
• Database Entries: Unexpected values in wp_options for keys like gdpr_banner_text, gdpr_consent_log, or gdpr_settings.
• Network Traffic: POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing "gdpr" or "consent" from unauthenticated sources.
• Log Entries: 403 errors from wp_die() if a partial patch is applied, or successful AJAX responses without authentication.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_24591_GDPR_Missing_Auth {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable Ninja GDPR plugin files with missing authorization"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-24591"
    strings:
        $ajax_nopriv = "wp_ajax_nopriv_" nocase
        $gdpr_action = "gdpr" nocase
        $update_option = "update_option" nocase
    condition:
        $ajax_nopriv and $gdpr_action and $update_option
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-24591 - Ninja GDPR Missing Authorization Exploitation
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthorized AJAX requests targeting GDPR settings in Ninja GDPR plugin
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: POST
        c-uri|contains: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - 'action='
            - 'gdpr'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (if authenticated)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-24591 - Ninja GDPR Missing Authorization Exploit Attempt"; flow:to_server; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action="; http_client_body; content:"gdpr"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released. Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and deactivate "GDPR CCPA Compliance Support".
2. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block unauthenticated requests to AJAX endpoints containing "gdpr" in the action parameter.
3. Audit user roles and ensure only administrators have access to plugin settings.

Long-term Fix:

• Monitor the plugin's official page for a patched version (>= 2.7.2). Apply the update immediately when available.
• Consider switching to an alternative GDPR compliance plugin with active maintenance and security audits.

Workaround (if disabling is not possible):

• Add custom code to the theme's functions.php to enforce capability checks:

add_action('init', function() {
    if (defined('DOING_AJAX') && DOING_AJAX) {
        $action = $_REQUEST['action'] ?? '';
        if (strpos($action, 'gdpr') !== false && !current_user_can('manage_options')) {
            wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
        }
    }
});

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers