CVE-2025-0316
Published: 08 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-0316 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (CWE-288) vulnerability in Themeforest (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 36.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)).
Deeper analysis
The WP Directorybox Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in versions up to and including 2.5. The flaw stems from incorrect authentication logic in the wp_dp_enquiry_agent_contact_form_submit_callback function, which permits unauthenticated actors to impersonate any existing user account when supplied with a valid username. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and is tracked under CWE-288.
Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the weakness over the network to obtain administrative access to a site, provided they know or can guess a username. Successful exploitation grants full control over the WordPress instance, including the ability to modify content, install plugins, or exfiltrate data.
EPSS for the vulnerability rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.0159 on 2026-01-13 before receding to the current value of 0.0016, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest after public disclosure. Reference material is available from Wordfence threat intelligence and the ThemeForest page for the related Directory multipurpose theme.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-1600
Vulnerability details
The WP Directorybox Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in versions up to, and including, 2.5. This is due to incorrect authentication in the 'wp_dp_enquiry_agent_contact_form_submit_callback' function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as…
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any existing user on the site, such as an administrator, if they have access to the username.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Authentication bypass in publicly exposed WordPress plugin directly enables remote exploitation for initial access without credentials.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-3 enforces approved authorizations for logical access, directly preventing unauthenticated attackers from bypassing authentication to log in as existing users including administrators.
IA-2 mandates robust identification and authentication for users, mitigating the incorrect authentication logic in the plugin's callback function that enables bypass.
SI-2 requires timely identification, reporting, and remediation of flaws, directly addressing this plugin vulnerability through patching to prevent exploitation.