CVE-2025-57975

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-57975 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the RadiusTheme Team (tlp-team) WordPress plugin, affecting versions up to and including 5.0.6. This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data exposure or manipulation of team member listings. The vulnerability is classified as a WordPress ecosystem issue, not related to the underlying web server (Apache/Nginx). With a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium), the risk is moderate but elevated due to the lack of a vendor patch and the plugin's widespread use in business and portfolio sites. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code has been released, but the attack surface is significant given the plugin's popularity.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Organizations using the tlp-team plugin should treat this as a supply chain risk, as the plugin is a third-party component integrated into WordPress sites. No patched version is available, and the vendor has not responded to disclosure. Users must rely on manual mitigation or consider removing the plugin until a fix is released.

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) – unauthenticated.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action needed.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• 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. While the CVSS score is moderate, the lack of authentication requirements and the plugin's common use in business contexts elevate the real-world risk. An attacker could enumerate team members, extract metadata, or access non-public information.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the tlp-team plugin's REST API endpoints or AJAX handlers that fail to enforce proper authorization checks. Specifically, the plugin exposes functions to retrieve, create, or modify team member data without verifying the user's capabilities (e.g., edit_posts or manage_options). This allows any unauthenticated visitor to call these endpoints and access sensitive information.

Root Cause: The plugin uses wp_ajax_nopriv_* hooks or similar constructs that bypass WordPress's built-in capability checks. The missing current_user_can() or wp_verify_nonce() calls enable unauthorized access.

Attack Vector: An attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoints, such as:

• POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=tlp_team_get_members
• GET /wp-json/tlp-team/v1/members

Impact: Unauthorized reading of team member data, including names, titles, bios, and potentially custom fields containing sensitive information (e.g., email addresses, phone numbers). In some configurations, the attacker might also be able to modify or delete team entries.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no official patch exists, the following is a hypothetical fix based on best practices.

Vulnerable Code (tlp-team <= 5.0.6):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_tlp_team_get_members', 'tlp_team_get_members_callback');
function tlp_team_get_members_callback() {
    $members = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'team', 'posts_per_page' => -1));
    wp_send_json($members);
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical Fix):

add_action('wp_ajax_tlp_team_get_members', 'tlp_team_get_members_callback');
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_tlp_team_get_members', 'tlp_team_get_members_callback');
function tlp_team_get_members_callback() {
    // Check if user has required capability
    if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    // Verify nonce for CSRF protection
    if (!wp_verify_nonce($_REQUEST['_wpnonce'], 'tlp_team_nonce')) {
        wp_die('Invalid nonce', 403);
    }
    $members = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'team', 'posts_per_page' => -1));
    wp_send_json($members);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress site with tlp-team plugin version <= 5.0.6 installed and active.
• Network access to the target.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint by scanning for common AJAX actions:

   curl -s "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=tlp_team_get_members"
   

2. If the response contains JSON data with team members, the endpoint is vulnerable.
3. For more advanced exploitation, attempt to create or modify team members:

   curl -X POST "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
     -d "action=tlp_team_add_member&name=Hacker&title=CEO&bio=Malicious"
   

4. Use Shodan dorks to find vulnerable instances:

   shodan search "http.title:\"Team\" http.html:\"tlp-team\""
   

No public exploit code is available. The above steps are based on common patterns for missing authorization vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with actions containing tlp_team_* from unauthenticated users.
• Look for spikes in GET or POST requests to /wp-json/tlp-team/v1/* endpoints.
• Check server logs for 403 errors on these endpoints (if patched) or successful 200 responses (if vulnerable).

Hunting:

• Search for tlp_team_get_members in web server access logs.
• Use the Sigma rule below to detect exploitation attempts.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=tlp_team_get_members or similar.
  • Requests to /wp-json/tlp-team/v1/members without authentication.
• File IOCs:
  • Modified team post type entries in the WordPress database.
  • Unexpected entries in wp_posts with post_type = 'team'.
• Behavioral IOCs:
  • Unauthorized access to team member data from unknown IPs.
  • Sudden changes to team member listings without admin action.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_TLP_Team_Exploitation {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts against CVE-2025-57975 in tlp-team plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-57975"
    strings:
        $ajax_action = "tlp_team_get_members" nocase
        $rest_endpoint = "/tlp-team/v1/members" nocase
        $post_type = "post_type=team" nocase
    condition:
        any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-57975 - Missing Authorization in tlp-team Plugin
id: 8a3f7c2e-5d1b-4a9f-8c6e-2b1a3d4f5e6c
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated access to tlp-team plugin endpoints
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-57975
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_combined
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'action=tlp_team_get_members'
            - 'action=tlp_team_add_member'
            - 'action=tlp_team_delete_member'
            - '/tlp-team/v1/'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-57975 - tlp-team Missing Authorization Attempt"; flow:to_server; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=tlp_team_"; http_client_body; nocase; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released by the vendor.
2. If disabling is not possible, implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing tlp_team_* from unauthenticated users.
3. Add the following .htaccess rule to restrict access:

   <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
       RewriteEngine On
       RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/wp-admin/admin-ajax\.php
       RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} action=tlp_team_
       RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
   </IfModule>
   

Long-Term Fix:

• Monitor the plugin's official page for updates.
• Consider replacing the plugin with an alternative that has active security maintenance.
• Conduct a security audit of all WordPress plugins to identify similar missing authorization issues.

Valters IT Signature:

Valters IT - DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence
CVE-2025-57975 Analysis - April 2025