CVE-2025-57896

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-57896 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Church Admin WordPress plugin (by andy_moyle) affecting versions up to and including 5.0.26. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or manipulation. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium) and currently has no known public exploit or patch. As a WordPress plugin vulnerability, it falls under the WordPress ecosystem and should be addressed by the plugin vendor.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed through the official WordPress plugin repository. Users should monitor for updates from the plugin author and consider disabling the plugin until a patch is available.

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) - Impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): Low (L) - Limited information disclosure.
• Integrity (I): None (N) - No data modification.
• Availability (A): None (N) - No service disruption.

Threat Level: Medium (5.3). The vulnerability is easily exploitable but has limited impact.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the Church Admin plugin's REST API endpoints or AJAX handlers. The plugin likely fails to verify user capabilities before executing sensitive operations, allowing unauthenticated attackers to access or modify data. The specific affected functionality is not publicly documented, but typical patterns include:

• Unprotected AJAX actions that retrieve or modify church member data.
• Missing current_user_can() checks in WordPress hooks.
• Improper nonce validation or missing capability checks in REST API routes.

Attackers can exploit this by sending crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoints without authentication.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code pattern is hypothesized:

Vulnerable (hypothetical):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_church_admin_get_members', 'church_admin_get_members');
function church_admin_get_members() {
    // No capability check
    $members = get_option('church_admin_members');
    wp_send_json($members);
}

Patched (hypothetical):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_church_admin_get_members', 'church_admin_get_members');
function church_admin_get_members() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $members = get_option('church_admin_members');
    wp_send_json($members);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

1. Setup: Install WordPress with Church Admin plugin version 5.0.26 on a local server.
2. Reconnaissance: Identify vulnerable endpoints by analyzing plugin source code or using fuzzing tools.
3. Exploitation: Send a crafted HTTP request to the vulnerable endpoint:

   curl -X POST http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php \
        -d "action=church_admin_get_members"
   

4. Post-Exploitation: Extract sensitive data (e.g., member lists, contact info) from the response.

Blue Team

1. Detection: Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters related to Church Admin.
2. Mitigation: Disable the plugin until a patch is available. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthenticated access to plugin endpoints.
3. Forensics: Check access logs for requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=church_admin_* from unauthenticated IPs.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameter starting with church_admin_ from unauthenticated sources.
• File: Presence of wp-content/plugins/church-admin/ directory with version 5.0.26 or lower.
• Log: WordPress debug log entries showing unauthorized access attempts to plugin functions.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_57896_ChurchAdmin_MissingAuth {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Church Admin plugin files with missing authorization"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-57896"
    strings:
        $func1 = "wp_ajax_nopriv_church_admin" ascii wide nocase
        $func2 = "wp_ajax_church_admin" ascii wide nocase
        $no_check = "current_user_can" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        any of ($func*) and not $no_check
}

Sigma Rule

title: Church Admin Missing Authorization Exploitation
id: cve-2025-57896
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-57896
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=church_admin_'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-57896 Church Admin Missing Authorization Attempt";
    flow:to_server;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=church_admin_"; http_client_body;
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:10000001;
    rev:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Disable the Church Admin plugin until a patched version is released.
2. Short-term: Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block unauthenticated requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters starting with church_admin_.
3. Long-term: Monitor the plugin's official page for updates. Apply the patch as soon as it becomes available.
4. Alternative: Consider using a different church management plugin with active security maintenance.

Valters IT