CVE-2025-57995

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-57995 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the DethemeKit For Elementor WordPress plugin (versions <= 2.1.10). This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or function execution. The vulnerability is classified as Medium Severity (CVSS 4.3) and currently has no known public exploit or patch. As a WordPress plugin vulnerability, it affects sites using the DethemeKit For Elementor plugin and could be leveraged in automated attacks against unpatched installations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability resides in a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. The supply chain risk is elevated because:

• The plugin is widely used for Elementor page builder enhancements.
• No patch has been released, leaving all versions <= 2.1.10 exposed.
• Attackers may target the plugin's update mechanism or distribute malicious forks.

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 data exposure.
• Integrity (I): None (N) – No data modification.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The low EPSS score (0.0%) suggests limited active exploitation, but the lack of a patch increases long-term risk.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the DethemeKit For Elementor plugin's AJAX handlers or REST API endpoints. Specifically, the plugin fails to verify user capabilities (e.g., manage_options or edit_posts) before executing privileged actions. This allows unauthenticated attackers to:

• Access sensitive plugin settings or configuration data.
• Trigger functions intended for administrators, such as importing/exporting templates or modifying Elementor widgets.
• Potentially read or write arbitrary options in the WordPress database if the plugin uses update_option or get_option without capability checks.

The flaw is categorized under CWE-862: Missing Authorization, meaning the software does not perform any authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code pattern is inferred from the CVE description. A typical vulnerable snippet might look like:

// Vulnerable: No capability check
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_dethemekit_export', 'dethemekit_export_handler');
function dethemekit_export_handler() {
    // Export sensitive data without checking user permissions
    $data = get_option('dethemekit_settings');
    wp_send_json($data);
}

A patched version would include:

// Patched: Capability check added
add_action('wp_ajax_dethemekit_export', 'dethemekit_export_handler');
function dethemekit_export_handler() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $data = get_option('dethemekit_settings');
    wp_send_json($data);
}

The key difference is the addition of current_user_can() and the removal of nopriv_ prefix (which allows unauthenticated access).

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• Target WordPress site with DethemeKit For Elementor <= 2.1.10 installed and activated.
• No authentication required.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint by analyzing the plugin's AJAX actions (e.g., dethemekit_export, dethemekit_import).
2. Send a crafted HTTP request to the endpoint:

curl -X POST "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
  -d "action=dethemekit_export&nonce=123" \
  -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0"

3. If the endpoint returns sensitive data (e.g., plugin settings, API keys), the vulnerability is confirmed.

Automated Scanning with Nuclei (if template available):

id: CVE-2025-57995
info:
  name: DethemeKit For Elementor Missing Authorization
  severity: medium
  description: Missing authorization in DethemeKit For Elementor <= 2.1.10
requests:
  - method: POST
    path:
      - "{{BaseURL}}/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"
    body: "action=dethemekit_export"
    matchers:
      - type: word
        words:
          - "dethemekit_settings"

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing dethemekit_.
• Alert on requests from unauthenticated users to privileged plugin endpoints.

Honeypot:

• Deploy a fake endpoint that mimics the vulnerable AJAX handler and logs attacker IPs.

Mitigation:

• Disable the plugin until a patch is available.
• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block requests to known vulnerable endpoints.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:
  • HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=dethemekit_* parameters.
  • User-Agent strings commonly used by scanning tools (e.g., Nuclei, curl).
• File:
  • Modified or unexpected files in /wp-content/plugins/dethemekit-for-elementor/.
• Log:
  • Repeated 403 errors from admin-ajax.php if a WAF is in place.
  • Unusual entries in WordPress debug log (wp-content/debug.log).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_57995_DethemeKit_Missing_Auth {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable DethemeKit For Elementor plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-57995"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "wp_ajax_nopriv_dethemekit_" ascii wide nocase
        $no_check = "current_user_can" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_func and not $no_check
}

Sigma Rule

title: DethemeKit For Elementor Missing Authorization Attempt
id: 8a3f7c2e-5b1d-4a9f-8c6e-2d3f1a0b9c8e
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated AJAX requests to DethemeKit endpoints
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=dethemekit_'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-57995 DethemeKit Missing Authorization Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=dethemekit_"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released.
2. Apply virtual patching via WAF rules to block requests to admin-ajax.php with action=dethemekit_* parameters from unauthenticated users.
3. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

Long-term Fix:

• The vendor must release a patched version (e.g., 2.1.11) that adds proper capability checks using current_user_can() or wp_verify_nonce().
• Users should update to the latest version once available.

Workaround:

• Add the following code to the theme's functions.php to block unauthenticated access to vulnerable endpoints:

add_action('init', function() {
    if (defined('DOING_AJAX') && DOING_AJAX && !is_user_logged_in()) {
        $blocked_actions = ['dethemekit_export', 'dethemekit_import'];
        $action = $_REQUEST['action'] ?? '';
        if (in_array($action, $blocked_actions)) {
            wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
        }
    }
});

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst