Internal Link Optimiser <= 5.1.2 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Settings Update
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.1.3
- Affected Plugin
- Website Internal Link Optimiser
- Affected Version
<= 5.1.2- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2025-32243
At a glance
CVE-2025-32243 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Website Internal Link Optimiser WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.1.2. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.1.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2025, reported by Kévin Mosbahi (Mika).
Vulnerability Overview
The WordPress Internal Link Optimiser plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the ~/templates/backend.php file in all versions up to, and including, 5.1.2. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to update plugin settings.
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 privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-862: Missing Authorization
Reaching this weakness in Website Internal Link Optimiser <= 5.1.2 takes no account at all. 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 Website Internal Link Optimiser the fix is 5.1.3: builds <= 5.1.2 are affected, anything from 5.1.3 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.1.3, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Website Internal Link Optimiser 5.1.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Website Internal Link Optimiser
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