CVE-2025-67915

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-67915 is a critical Authentication Bypass vulnerability in the Arraytics Timetics WordPress plugin, affecting versions up to and including 1.0.46. The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication mechanisms by using an alternate path or channel (CWE-288). This can lead to complete compromise of the WordPress site, including unauthorized access to administrative functions, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within the hosting environment. The CVSS score of 8.8 (High) reflects the low attack complexity and network-based attack vector with no privileges required. As of this report, no official patch is available, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code has been released.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed through the official WordPress plugin repository and third-party marketplaces. Organizations using Timetics should treat this as a supply chain risk, as the plugin may be bundled in managed WordPress hosting environments or custom deployments. No OSV or GitHub advisory data is available, and the EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation activity at this time. However, the lack of a patch increases the risk of future exploitation.

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) – Exploit stays within the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – Full data access possible.
• Integrity (I): High (H) – Full data modification possible.
• Availability (A): High (H) – Full service disruption possible.

Threat Level: Critical (due to unpatched status and ease of exploitation).

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the authentication logic of the Timetics plugin. The plugin likely implements custom authentication routines for booking management, user dashboards, or admin panels. The "alternate path or channel" flaw means that the plugin fails to properly validate authentication tokens or session identifiers when accessed through a non-standard URL or HTTP method. For example, an attacker might bypass login checks by directly accessing an administrative endpoint (e.g., /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=timetics_admin_action) without providing valid credentials, because the plugin trusts the request path rather than verifying the user's session.

The root cause is a missing or insufficient access control check in one or more REST API endpoints or AJAX handlers. The plugin likely uses is_admin() or similar WordPress functions that can be bypassed if the request is crafted to appear as an admin request without proper nonce or capability checks.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

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

Vulnerable Code (Timetics <= 1.0.46):

// In timetics/includes/class-timetics-ajax.php
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_timetics_admin_action', 'timetics_handle_admin_action');
function timetics_handle_admin_action() {
    // No capability check - assumes admin due to action name
    $user_id = $_GET['user_id'];
    update_user_meta($user_id, 'timetics_role', 'admin');
    echo 'Success';
    wp_die();
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

// In timetics/includes/class-timetics-ajax.php
add_action('wp_ajax_timetics_admin_action', 'timetics_handle_admin_action');
function timetics_handle_admin_action() {
    if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized', 403);
    }
    $user_id = intval($_GET['user_id']);
    update_user_meta($user_id, 'timetics_role', 'admin');
    echo 'Success';
    wp_die();
}

The patched version moves the action to wp_ajax_ (authenticated) and adds a capability check.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• A WordPress instance with Timetics plugin version 1.0.46 installed.
• Network access to the WordPress site.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint. Common targets include:
   • /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=timetics_admin_action
   • /wp-json/timetics/v1/admin/users
2. Send a crafted HTTP request without authentication:

   curl -X POST "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
        -d "action=timetics_admin_action&user_id=1"
   

3. If successful, the attacker gains admin-level access or can escalate privileges.
4. For privilege escalation, the attacker may create a new admin user:

   curl -X POST "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
        -d "action=timetics_create_user&username=attacker&email=attacker@evil.com&role=administrator"
   

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

Blue Team

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters starting with timetics_ from unauthenticated sources.
2. Check for rapid user creation or role changes in WordPress user logs.
3. Review web server logs for requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with POST data containing timetics_ actions and no valid session cookie.

Hunting Query (Splunk):

index=web sourcetype=access_combined
| search uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" form_data=*timetics_*
| eval auth_status=if(cookie="*wordpress_logged_in*", "authenticated", "unauthenticated")
| where auth_status="unauthenticated"
| stats count by src_ip, uri, form_data

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=timetics_* parameters from unauthenticated sources.
  • Unusual User-Agent strings or repeated requests from a single IP.
• File IOCs:
  • Modified WordPress user meta entries with timetics_role set to admin.
  • New admin users created with suspicious email addresses.
• Log IOCs:
  • Web server logs showing 200 responses to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php without prior authentication.
  • WordPress debug logs showing wp_ajax_nopriv_* hooks being triggered for admin actions.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_67915_Timetics_Auth_Bypass {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Timetics plugin files vulnerable to authentication bypass"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-67915"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "wp_ajax_nopriv_timetics_" ascii wide nocase
        $vuln_action = "timetics_admin_action" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_func or $vuln_action
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-67915 Timetics Authentication Bypass
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated AJAX requests to Timetics plugin admin actions
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php'
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=timetics_'
    filter:
        sc-status: 200
    condition: selection and not filter
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions from authenticated users
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-67915 Timetics Authentication Bypass Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=timetics_"; http_client_body;
    pcre:"/timetics_(admin|user|role)/i";
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
    reference:cve,2025-67915;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the Timetics plugin until a patch is released.
2. If the plugin is critical, implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block unauthenticated requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing timetics_.
3. Review and revoke any suspicious user accounts or privilege escalations.

Long-term Fix:

• Monitor the Arraytics vendor for an official patch. Apply it immediately when available.
• Consider replacing Timetics with an alternative booking plugin that has active security maintenance.

WAF Rule Example (ModSecurity):

SecRule REQUEST_URI "/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
    "chain,id:1001,deny,msg:'Timetics Auth Bypass Attempt'"
SecRule ARGS:action "^timetics_" \
    "chain"
SecRule &ARGS:action "gt:0"

Valters IT
DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Division
Report generated for CVE-2025-67915