Quick Featured Images <= 13.7.2 - Insecure Direct Object Reference to Image Manipulation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 13.7.3
- Affected Plugin
- Quick Featured Images
- Affected Version
<= 13.7.2- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-639 · Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
- CVE
CVE-2025-11176
At a glance
CVE-2025-11176 is a medium-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in the Quick Featured Images WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 13.7.2. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 13.7.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2025, reported by Lucas Montes (NiRoX).
Vulnerability Overview
The Quick Featured Images plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in all versions up to, and including, 13.7.2 via the qfi_set_thumbnail and qfi_delete_thumbnail AJAX actions due to missing validation on a user controlled key. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to change or remove featured images of other user's posts.
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-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Reaching this weakness in Quick Featured Images <= 13.7.2 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, often called insecure direct object reference, means the application looks up a record by an identifier from the request without checking that the caller owns it.
Changing a number in the request is enough to read or modify other users' records, which on commerce and membership sites means customer data. For Quick Featured Images the fix is 13.7.3: builds <= 13.7.2 are affected, anything from 13.7.3 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 13.7.3, 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: Quick Featured Images 13.7.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Quick Featured Images
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