CVE-2025-1307

Critical

Published: 04 March 2025

Published

04 March 2025

Modified

05 March 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.2036 95.6th percentile

Risk Priority 32 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-1307 is a critical-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Spicethemes Newscrunch. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 4.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-6 (Least Privilege) and CM-11 (User-installed Software).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 2 other techniques. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires identification, reporting, and timely remediation of flaws like the missing capability check in the Newscrunch theme's newscrunch_install_and_activate_plugin function to prevent exploitation.

CM-11 User-installed Software good match

prevent

Prohibits or controls user-installed software by non-privileged users such as Subscribers, directly mitigating unauthorized plugin uploads via the vulnerable function.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

prevent

Enforces least privilege to restrict Subscriber-level users from possessing capabilities needed for arbitrary file uploads and plugin activation.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer Command And Control

Adversaries may transfer tools or other files from an external system into a compromised environment.

attack.mitre.org →

T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence

Adversaries may backdoor web servers with web shells to establish persistent access to systems.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Arbitrary file upload vulnerability in public-facing WordPress theme directly enables T1190 (exploiting public-facing app), T1105 (uploading/transferring malicious files to server), and T1505.003 (installing web shell for RCE/persistence).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

The Newscrunch theme for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to a missing capability check in the newscrunch_install_and_activate_plugin() function in all versions up to, and including, 1.8.4.1. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and…

above, to upload arbitrary files on the affected site's server which may make remote code execution possible.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-1307 is an arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the Newscrunch theme for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.8.4.1. The issue arises from a missing capability check in the newscrunch_install_and_activate_plugin() function, which allows unauthorized file uploads to the server's filesystem. Published on 2025-03-04, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and maps to CWE-862 (Missing Authorization).

Authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or higher can exploit this vulnerability to upload arbitrary files to the affected WordPress site. Successful exploitation may lead to remote code execution, depending on the uploaded file type and server configuration.

Advisories and patches are detailed in the provided references, including the vulnerable code in functions.php at line 486 (https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscrunch/1.8.3/functions.php#L486), a related changeset in the WordPress theme repository (https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=261789%40newscrunch&new=261789%40newscrunch&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=), and Wordfence threat intelligence (https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b55567e9-24e6-4738-b7f7-b95b541e6067?source=cve).