PT Project Notebooks 1.0.0 - 1.1.3 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via wpnb_pto_new_users_add Function
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.2.0
- Affected Plugin
- PT Project Notebooks
- Affected Version
1.0.0 – 1.1.3- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2025-5304
At a glance
CVE-2025-5304 is a critical-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the PT Project Notebooks WordPress plugin, affecting versions 1.0.0 – 1.1.3. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.2.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2025, reported by kr0d.
Vulnerability Overview
The PT Project Notebooks plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation due to missing authorization in the wpnb_pto_new_users_add() function in versions 1.0.0 through 1.1.3. 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-862: Missing Authorization
PT Project Notebooks 1.0.0 – 1.1.3 carries this weakness at wpnb_pto_new_users_add(), and reaching it 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 PT Project Notebooks the fix is 1.2.0: builds 1.0.0 – 1.1.3 are affected, anything from 1.2.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.2.0, 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: PT Project Notebooks 1.2.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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