CVE-2025-58222

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-58222 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress plugin "Team Manager" by Maidul (plugin slug: wp-team-manager). This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive team member data or administrative functions. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 2.5.1. 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 due to the lack of a patch.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability resides in a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress Plugin Directory. Users who have installed the plugin from the directory are affected. Since no patch is available, the supply chain risk is elevated—users must either implement a virtual patch (e.g., via a Web Application Firewall) or remove the plugin entirely until a fix is released.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 5.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: Low
• Integrity Impact: None
• Availability Impact: None

Threat Level: Medium. The vulnerability allows unauthorized data access but does not enable data modification or denial of service. However, the lack of a patch increases the urgency for mitigation.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from a Missing Authorization check (CWE-862) in the Team Manager plugin. The plugin likely exposes REST API endpoints or AJAX actions that perform sensitive operations (e.g., retrieving team member details, modifying settings) without verifying the user's capabilities or authentication status. An attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to these endpoints to access or manipulate data intended only for authenticated administrators.

Root Cause: The plugin fails to call current_user_can() or similar WordPress capability checks before executing privileged actions. This allows any unauthenticated visitor to trigger these actions.

Attack Scenario:

1. An attacker identifies the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/team-members).
2. The attacker sends a GET request to this endpoint without any authentication token.
3. The plugin processes the request and returns sensitive data (e.g., team member names, emails, roles) that should be restricted.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

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

Vulnerable Code (wp-team-manager/includes/class-api.php):

add_action('rest_api_init', function () {
    register_rest_route('wp-team-manager/v1', '/team-members', array(
        'methods' => 'GET',
        'callback' => 'get_team_members',
    ));
});

function get_team_members($request) {
    // Missing permission_callback or capability check
    $members = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'team_member'));
    return $members;
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

add_action('rest_api_init', function () {
    register_rest_route('wp-team-manager/v1', '/team-members', array(
        'methods' => 'GET',
        'callback' => 'get_team_members',
        'permission_callback' => function () {
            return current_user_can('edit_posts');
        }
    ));
});

function get_team_members($request) {
    $members = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'team_member'));
    return $members;
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attacker)

Lab Environment:

• WordPress 6.x with Team Manager plugin <= 2.5.1
• Attacker machine with curl or Burp Suite

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable REST endpoint. Common endpoints include:
   • /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/team-members
   • /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/settings
2. Send an unauthenticated GET request:

   curl -X GET http://target.com/wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/team-members
   

3. If successful, the response will contain sensitive data (e.g., JSON array of team members with names, emails, etc.).

Note: No public exploit code is available. The above is a generic example based on common WordPress plugin vulnerabilities.

Blue Team (Defender)

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual requests to /wp-json/wp-team-manager/ endpoints from unauthenticated sources.
2. Check server logs for 200 responses to these endpoints without a valid WP-User cookie or Authorization header.
3. Use the detection rules below to identify exploitation attempts.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP requests to /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/* without authentication headers.
  • Repeated 200 responses to unauthenticated REST API calls.
• File IOCs:
  • Presence of the plugin directory /wp-content/plugins/wp-team-manager/ with version <= 2.5.1.
• Log IOCs:
  • Access logs showing GET /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/team-members from IPs not associated with admin users.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_58222_Team_Manager_Missing_Auth {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-58222 in Team Manager plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-58222"
    strings:
        $endpoint = "/wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/"
        $unauth = "HTTP/1.1 200 OK"
    condition:
        $endpoint and $unauth
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-58222 - Team Manager Missing Authorization Exploitation
id: 8a3f7b2c-1d4e-5f6a-7b8c-9d0e1f2a3b4c
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated access to Team Manager REST API endpoints
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-stem|startswith: '/wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/'
        sc-status: 200
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin requests (if authenticated)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> $HOME_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-58222 - Team Manager Missing Authorization Exploitation";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"GET"; http_method;
    content:"/wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/"; http_uri;
    pcre:"/^\/wp-json\/wp-team-manager\/v1\//";
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
    reference:cve,2025-58222;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released by the vendor.
2. Implement a virtual patch using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block unauthenticated requests to /wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/*.
3. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts using the provided detection rules.

Long-term Fix:

• The vendor must add proper permission callbacks to all REST API routes and AJAX actions. For example:

  'permission_callback' => function () {
      return current_user_can('manage_options');
  }
  

• Users should update to a patched version once available.

Workaround:

• Add the following rule to .htaccess (Apache) to block unauthenticated access:

  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/wp-json/wp-team-manager/v1/ [NC]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !wordpress_logged_in_ [NC]
  RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
  

Valters IT
Securing WordPress, One Plugin at a Time