CVE-2025-64375

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-64375 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress plugin WP Social Ninja (slug: wp-social-reviews), developed by Mahmudul Hasan Arif. This flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or modification. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 3.20.1. As of this report, no official patch has been released, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) code is available.

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 WordPress repository are affected. The plugin is not distributed via NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby ecosystems.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 6.5 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: Low
• Integrity Impact: Low
• Availability Impact: None

The vulnerability is rated Medium due to the low impact on confidentiality and integrity, but the ease of exploitation (no authentication required) increases the risk.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the plugin's REST API endpoints or AJAX handlers. The plugin likely exposes functions that should require administrative or editor-level permissions but fails to verify the user's capabilities. An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to these endpoints to:

• Retrieve sensitive data (e.g., social media API keys, user data).
• Modify plugin settings or stored data.

The specific affected endpoint is not publicly documented, but typical WordPress plugin vulnerabilities of this type involve functions like wp_ajax_* or register_rest_route() without proper permission_callback validation.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code pattern is described generically.

Vulnerable Code (Example):

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_social_ninja_get_data', 'social_ninja_get_data');
function social_ninja_get_data() {
    // No permission check
    $data = get_option('wp_social_ninja_settings');
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

Patched Code (Expected):

add_action('wp_ajax_social_ninja_get_data', 'social_ninja_get_data');
function social_ninja_get_data() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $data = get_option('wp_social_ninja_settings');
    wp_send_json_success($data);
}

The patched version would require authentication and appropriate user capabilities.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• Target WordPress site with WP Social Ninja <= 3.20.1 installed and activated.
• No authentication required.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint by analyzing the plugin's source code or using a fuzzer.
2. Send a crafted HTTP request to the endpoint:

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

3. If successful, the response will contain sensitive data.

Note: No public exploit code is available; this is a hypothetical example.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with actions related to social_ninja or wp_social_reviews from unauthenticated users.
• Look for HTTP 200 responses to these requests without prior authentication.

Hunting:

• Search logs for requests containing action=social_ninja_ or wp_social_reviews_ from IPs not associated with known administrators.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:
  • HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with parameters containing action=social_ninja_ or wp_social_reviews_.
  • Unusual data exfiltration patterns from the WordPress site.
• File:
  • Modified plugin files (e.g., wp-content/plugins/wp-social-reviews/).
  • Unexpected entries in WordPress options table (wp_options) related to social media API keys.
• Log:
  • Repeated 403 errors followed by 200 success for the same endpoint from the same IP.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_64375_WP_Social_Ninja_Missing_Auth {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-64375 in WP Social Ninja plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-64375"
    strings:
        $ajax_action = /action=(social_ninja_|wp_social_reviews_)/ nocase
        $admin_ajax = "admin-ajax.php" nocase
    condition:
        $admin_ajax and $ajax_action
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-64375 WP Social Ninja Missing Authorization Exploitation
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated AJAX requests targeting WP Social Ninja plugin
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|re: 'action=(social_ninja_|wp_social_reviews_)'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> $HOME_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-64375 WP Social Ninja Missing Authorization Exploitation";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    pcre:"/action=(social_ninja_|wp_social_reviews_)/i";
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    sid:10000001;
    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 unauthenticated requests to admin-ajax.php with actions containing social_ninja_ or wp_social_reviews_.
3. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

Long-term Fix:

• Apply the official patch once released by the vendor.
• If the plugin is no longer maintained, consider replacing it with an alternative.

Workaround:

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

  add_action('init', function() {
      if (defined('DOING_AJAX') && DOING_AJAX && !is_user_logged_in()) {
          $allowed_actions = array(); // Add allowed public actions here
          $action = $_REQUEST['action'] ?? '';
          if (strpos($action, 'social_ninja_') === 0 && !in_array($action, $allowed_actions)) {
              wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
          }
      }
  });
  

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers