CVE-2025-53428

Simple User Registration <= 6.4 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Privilege Escalation

2025-09-20 00:00
Peter Thaleikis

Strategic Overview

Status
Unpatched
Affected Plugin
MemberHero – Simple User Registration & Login
Affected Version
<= 6.4
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE
CVE-2025-53428
View all MemberHero – Simple User Registration & Login vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-53428 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the MemberHero WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 6.4. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed September 2025, reported by Peter Thaleikis.

Vulnerability Overview

The Simple User Registration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 6.4. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to gain access to administrative-level user accounts.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in MemberHero <= 6.4 takes an account at Contributor level or above. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.

It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for MemberHero yet, so installs running <= 6.4 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?

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. 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

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-53428https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a95e98e4-97a7-436f-9ceb-6ff6fecd860fhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53428

Related records

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