CVE-2025-30636

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-30636 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Accessibility Suite plugin for WordPress, developed by Ability, Inc. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or modification. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 4.19. 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 low exploitation activity in the wild, but the risk remains significant due to the widespread use of WordPress plugins.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability resides in a WordPress plugin ecosystem. WordPress plugins are distributed via the official WordPress Plugin Directory and third-party marketplaces. The lack of a patch and the nature of the flaw (missing authorization) means that any site running an affected version is at risk. Organizations should audit their WordPress installations for this plugin and consider temporary removal or strict access controls until a patch is released.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
• Base Score: 5.4 (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) – Impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – Limited data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L) – Limited data modification.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The vulnerability is easy to exploit remotely without authentication, but the impact is limited to low confidentiality and integrity loss. However, in a WordPress context, this could lead to privilege escalation or sensitive data leakage.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from a Missing Authorization check (CWE-862) in the Accessibility Suite plugin. The plugin likely exposes REST API endpoints or AJAX actions that perform sensitive operations (e.g., updating settings, accessing user data) without verifying that the requester has the necessary permissions. An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to these endpoints to:

• Read or modify plugin configuration.
• Access or alter accessibility-related data.
• Potentially escalate privileges if the plugin interacts with user roles.

The flaw is classified as "Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels," meaning the plugin fails to enforce proper capability checks (e.g., current_user_can() in WordPress) before executing privileged actions.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only infer the vulnerable pattern. A typical vulnerable code snippet in WordPress plugins might look like:

// Vulnerable: No capability check
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_update_settings', 'update_plugin_settings');
function update_plugin_settings() {
    // Process and save settings without checking user permissions
    update_option('accessibility_suite_settings', $_POST['settings']);
}

A patched version would include a capability check:

// Patched: Check user capability
add_action('wp_ajax_update_settings', 'update_plugin_settings');
function update_plugin_settings() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized');
    }
    update_option('accessibility_suite_settings', $_POST['settings']);
}

The key difference is the addition of current_user_can('manage_options') to restrict access to administrators.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Setup:

1. Install WordPress with the Accessibility Suite plugin (version <= 4.19).
2. Identify vulnerable endpoints by analyzing plugin source code or using a web application scanner.
3. Craft HTTP requests to exploit missing authorization.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Enumerate plugin endpoints (e.g., /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=accessibility_suite_update).
2. Send a POST request without authentication:

   curl -X POST http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php \
     -d "action=accessibility_suite_update&setting=value"
   

3. If successful, the server responds with a success message or modified data.

Note: No public exploit code is available; this is a hypothetical example.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to plugin-specific actions.
• Look for requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with actions containing "accessibility_suite" from unauthenticated users.
• Check server logs for 200 responses to these endpoints without prior authentication.

Mitigation:

• Immediately disable or remove the plugin until a patch is released.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests to known vulnerable endpoints.
• Restrict access to /wp-admin/ directory via IP whitelisting or VPN.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameter containing accessibility_suite.
  • Unusual Referer headers or missing User-Agent strings.
• File IOCs:
  • Modified plugin files (e.g., wp-content/plugins/accessibility-suite/).
  • Unexpected entries in wp_options table (e.g., accessibility_suite_settings).
• Log IOCs:
  • Repeated 200 responses to AJAX endpoints from unknown IPs.
  • PHP error logs showing "Unauthorized" or "Permission denied" messages.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_30636_Accessibility_Suite {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable Accessibility Suite plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-30636"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_" ascii wide
        $vuln_func2 = "add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_" ascii wide
        $no_check = "current_user_can" ascii wide
    condition:
        $vuln_func and not $no_check
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-30636 - Missing Authorization in Accessibility Suite
id: 8a4b3c2d-1e5f-4a7b-9c8d-0e1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts against missing authorization in Accessibility Suite plugin
author: Valters IT
date: 2025/04/10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=accessibility_suite'
        sc-status: 200
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (if authenticated)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-30636 - Accessibility Suite Missing Authorization"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=accessibility_suite"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Disable or remove the Accessibility Suite plugin from all WordPress installations.
2. Vendor Contact: Reach out to Ability, Inc. for a patch or update timeline.
3. Workaround: If removal is not possible, implement a WAF rule to block unauthenticated requests to plugin AJAX endpoints.
4. Monitoring: Enable detailed logging for /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and review for suspicious activity.
5. Long-term: Apply the principle of least privilege to all plugins and regularly audit for missing authorization vulnerabilities.

Valters IT Signature This report was generated by Valters IT DevSecOps AI. For questions, contact security@valters-it.com.