Job Listings 0.1 - 0.1.1 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via register_action Function
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Job Listings
- Affected Version
0.1 – 0.1.1- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2025-3918
At a glance
CVE-2025-3918 is a critical-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the Job Listings WordPress plugin, affecting versions 0.1 – 0.1.1. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed May 2025, reported by kr0d.
Vulnerability Overview
The Job Listings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation due to improper authorization within the register_action() function in versions 0.1 to 0.1.1. The plugin’s registration handler reads the client-supplied $_POST['user_role'] and passes it directly to wp_insert_user() without restricting to a safe set of roles. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to elevate their privileges to that of an administrator.
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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-285: Improper Authorization
Job Listings 0.1 – 0.1.1 carries this weakness at user_role, and reaching it takes no account at all. Improper authorization means a permission check exists but does not cover the case being exercised, so a caller who is allowed to do one thing is allowed to do a neighbouring thing as well.
A lower-privileged account performs an action reserved for a higher one, which on a multi-author or membership site means an ordinary user reaching administrative behaviour. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Job Listings yet, so installs running 0.1 – 0.1.1 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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