CVE-2025-58210

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-58210 identifies a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the ThemeMove Makeaholic WordPress theme, affecting versions up to and including 1.8.5. This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data or functionality. The vulnerability is classified as Medium Severity (CVSS 5.3) with a low attack complexity and no user interaction required. As of this report, no official patch is available, and no public exploit code has been released. The EPSS score of 0.0% indicates a very low probability of exploitation in the wild, but the risk remains for unpatched installations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress theme distributed via ThemeForest and other marketplaces. The supply chain risk is moderate, as the theme is a commercial product with limited transparency into its development and security practices. Users are advised to monitor for updates from ThemeMove and consider alternative themes if a patch is not released promptly.

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: 5.3 (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 victim action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – Impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – Limited information disclosure.
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N) – No data modification.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The vulnerability is easy to exploit but only leads to limited information disclosure. However, in the context of a WordPress site, this could expose sensitive configuration data or user information.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from a Missing Authorization check (CWE-862) in the Makeaholic theme’s AJAX handlers or REST API endpoints. The theme likely registers custom WordPress AJAX actions or REST routes that are intended for authenticated users but fail to verify user capabilities or nonces. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to call these endpoints directly, potentially retrieving sensitive data such as:

• Site configuration options
• User metadata
• Private post content
• Theme settings

The flaw is present in all versions up to and including 1.8.5. The exact vulnerable function is not publicly documented, but typical patterns in WordPress themes include:

• wp_ajax_* hooks without wp_ajax_nopriv_* counterparts
• REST API endpoints missing permission_callback parameters
• Direct calls to admin-ajax.php with insufficient validation

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the following is a hypothetical comparison based on common WordPress authorization patterns.

Vulnerable Code (Example):

add_action('wp_ajax_makeaholic_get_data', 'makeaholic_get_data');
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_makeaholic_get_data', 'makeaholic_get_data');

function makeaholic_get_data() {
    // No capability check
    $data = get_option('makeaholic_sensitive_data');
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

add_action('wp_ajax_makeaholic_get_data', 'makeaholic_get_data');
// Remove the nopriv action to require authentication

function makeaholic_get_data() {
    // Add capability check
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    // Verify nonce
    if (!wp_verify_nonce($_REQUEST['_wpnonce'], 'makeaholic_nonce')) {
        wp_die('Nonce verification failed', 403);
    }
    $data = get_option('makeaholic_sensitive_data');
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress site running Makeaholic theme version <= 1.8.5
• Network access to the target

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify vulnerable endpoints by analyzing the theme’s functions.php or AJAX handlers.
2. Send a crafted request to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with the appropriate action parameter.
3. Example using curl:

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

4. If successful, the response will contain sensitive data in JSON format.

Note: No public exploit code is available. The above is a generic example.

Blue Team (Detection & Response)

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php from unauthenticated users.
2. Look for requests with action parameters that match theme-specific hooks (e.g., makeaholic_*).
3. Check web server logs for 403 errors on AJAX endpoints (if patched) or successful responses (if vulnerable).
4. Use the detection rules below to identify exploitation attempts.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameter containing makeaholic
  • Unusual JSON responses from AJAX endpoints containing sensitive data
• File IOCs:
  • Modified wp-content/themes/makeaholic/functions.php (if attacker added backdoors)
  • Unexpected files in wp-content/uploads/ (if exploited for file upload)
• Log IOCs:
  • Web server logs showing repeated AJAX requests from the same IP
  • WordPress debug logs showing wp_die or wp_send_json calls without authentication

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_Makeaholic_Exploit {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts against CVE-2025-58210 in Makeaholic theme"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-58210"
    strings:
        $ajax_action = "makeaholic" nocase
        $admin_ajax = "admin-ajax.php" nocase
        $json_response = /{"success":true,.*"data":/
    condition:
        $ajax_action and $admin_ajax and #json_response > 0
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-58210 Makeaholic Unauthenticated AJAX Access
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated AJAX requests targeting Makeaholic theme endpoints
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-58210
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=makeaholic'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate theme functionality (if patched)
level: medium
tags:
    - attack.initial_access
    - attack.t1190

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-58210 Makeaholic Unauthenticated AJAX Access";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST";
    http_method;
    content:"admin-ajax.php";
    http_uri;
    content:"action=makeaholic";
    http_client_body;
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
    reference:cve,2025-58210;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the theme if possible and switch to a secure alternative.
2. Apply a virtual patch using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing makeaholic.
3. Restrict access to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php via .htaccess or server configuration for unauthenticated users (if feasible).

Long-term Fix:

• Monitor ThemeMove’s official channels for a patched version.
• If no patch is released, consider forking the theme and applying the authorization checks manually (see Vulnerable vs. Patched Code section).
• Implement a WordPress security plugin that adds capability checks to all AJAX endpoints.

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