CVE-2025-25162

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-25162 is a critical Absolute Path Traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) discovered in the WordPress plugin "Sports Rankings and Lists" by vendor Kutu62. This plugin is part of the WordPress ecosystem and is used to manage and display sports rankings and lists on WordPress sites. The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to read arbitrary files from the server's filesystem by manipulating path parameters, leading to potential exposure of sensitive data such as configuration files, database credentials, or source code. The CVSS score is 7.5 (High), and no patch is currently available. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time, but the risk remains significant due to the simplicity of exploitation.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the WordPress plugin repository. Since WordPress plugins are a common attack vector, this issue poses a supply chain risk to any site using the plugin. Administrators should immediately audit their WordPress installations for this plugin and consider disabling it until a patch is released.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – The vulnerable component is the only one affected.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – Full file read capability.
• Integrity (I): None (N) – No file modification.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: High. The vulnerability is easy to exploit and can lead to severe data breaches.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the sports-rankings-lists WordPress plugin, specifically in how it handles file paths for loading templates or assets. The plugin fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input used in file path construction, allowing an attacker to traverse directories using absolute paths (e.g., /etc/passwd or C:\Windows\win.ini). Since the plugin runs within the WordPress context, it has access to the web server's filesystem, making it possible to read any file the web server user can access.

The attack vector is likely through a parameter like file, path, or template in a shortcode or admin-ajax handler. For example, a request such as:

/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=sports_rankings_load&file=/etc/passwd

could return the contents of /etc/passwd.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only describe the vulnerable pattern. The vulnerable code likely resembles:

// Vulnerable code (sports-rankings-lists <= 1.0.2)
$file = $_GET['file'];
include($file); // or readfile($file);

A patched version would implement proper validation:

// Patched code (hypothetical)
$allowed_path = WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/uploads/sports-rankings/';
$file = basename($_GET['file']); // Remove path components
$full_path = $allowed_path . $file;
if (strpos(realpath($full_path), realpath($allowed_path)) === 0) {
    include($full_path);
} else {
    die('Invalid file.');
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Lab Setup:

1. Install WordPress on a local server (e.g., using XAMPP or Docker).
2. Install the vulnerable plugin "Sports Rankings and Lists" version 1.0.2.
3. Ensure the plugin is activated.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint (likely an AJAX action or shortcode).
2. Craft a request to read sensitive files:

curl "http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=sports_rankings_load&file=/etc/passwd"

3. If successful, the response will contain the contents of /etc/passwd.

Expected Output:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin
...

Blue Team (Defense & Detection)

Detection:

• Monitor web server logs for requests containing path traversal patterns (e.g., ../, %2e%2e%2f, absolute paths like /etc/).
• Look for unusual file read requests to sensitive system files.

Mitigation:

• Immediately disable the plugin if no patch is available.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block path traversal attempts.
• Restrict file access permissions for the web server user.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File Paths: /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /wp-config.php, C:\Windows\win.ini
• URL Patterns: ?action=sports_rankings_load&file=, ?page=sports_rankings&template=
• Log Entries: HTTP requests with 200 status and path traversal strings in the query string.
• Plugin Version: sports-rankings-lists version 1.0.2 or earlier.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_25162_Path_Traversal {
    meta:
        description = "Detects path traversal attempts targeting Sports Rankings and Lists plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2025-25162"
    strings:
        $s1 = "sports_rankings_load" nocase
        $s2 = "file=" nocase
        $s3 = "/etc/" nocase
        $s4 = "C:\\" nocase
        $s5 = "..\\" nocase
        $s6 = "%2e%2e%2f" nocase
    condition:
        any of ($s*) and ($s1 or $s2)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-25162 Path Traversal in Sports Rankings and Lists
id: 8a9b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests attempting to exploit absolute path traversal in the WordPress plugin Sports Rankings and Lists.
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'sports_rankings_load'
            - 'file='
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - '/etc/'
            - 'C:\\'
            - '..\\'
            - '%2e%2e%2f'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of file parameters with allowed paths
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-25162 - Path Traversal in Sports Rankings and Lists";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"sports_rankings_load"; http_uri;
    content:"file="; http_uri;
    pcre:"/(\/etc\/|C:\\|\.\.\\|%2e%2e%2f)/i";
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Disable or uninstall the "Sports Rankings and Lists" plugin until a patch is released.
2. WAF Rules: Deploy WAF rules to block path traversal patterns (e.g., ../, absolute paths).
3. File Permissions: Ensure the web server user has minimal read permissions.
4. Monitoring: Enable logging and alerting for suspicious file access patterns.
5. Vendor Contact: Reach out to Kutu62 for a patch or consider forking the plugin to fix the vulnerability.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers