CVE-2025-13794

Auto Featured Image <= 4.2.1 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Contributor+) Post Thumbnail Modification

2025-12-15 16:51
Dmitrii Ignatyev

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.2.2
Affected Plugin
Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail)
Affected Version
<= 4.2.1
CVSS
4.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2025-13794
View all Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-13794 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.2.1. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2025, reported by Dmitrii Ignatyev.

Vulnerability Overview

The Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the bulk_action_generate_handler function in all versions up to, and including, 4.2.1. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to delete or generate featured images on posts they do not own.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) <= 4.2.1 takes an account at Contributor level or above. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) the fix is 4.2.2: builds <= 4.2.1 are affected, anything from 4.2.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.2.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) 4.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-13794https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/29b0fd97-a669-42bb-b01e-bdc0395d697ehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-13794

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C