CVE-2025-4803

Glossary by WPPedia <= 1.3.0 - Authenticated (Administrator+) PHP Object Injection

2025-05-20 20:30
Drew Webber (mcdruid)

Strategic Overview

Status
Unpatched
Affected Version
<= 1.3.0
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data
CVE
CVE-2025-4803
View all Glossary by WPPedia – Best Glossary plugin for WordPress vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-4803 is a high-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in the Glossary by WPPedia WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.3.0. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed May 2025, reported by Drew Webber (mcdruid).

Vulnerability Overview

The Glossary by WPPedia – Best Glossary plugin for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 1.3.0 via deserialization of untrusted input from the 'posttypes' parameter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.

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-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Glossary by WPPedia <= 1.3.0 carries this weakness at posttypes, and reaching it takes an account at Administrator level or above. Deserialization of untrusted data means the application reconstructs objects from input a caller controls, letting the attacker choose which classes get instantiated and what their properties hold.

A workable chain turns deserialization into file writes, deletions or code execution, depending on what the loaded classes do in their magic methods. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Glossary by WPPedia yet, so installs running <= 1.3.0 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?

An attacker needs Administrator access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

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