Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-1639

High

Published: 04 March 2025

Published
04 March 2025
Modified
05 March 2025
KEV Added
—
Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.1110 93.6th percentile
Risk Priority 24 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-1639 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Crowdytheme Arolax. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 6.4% 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-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).

Deeper analysis

The Animation Addons for Elementor Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary plugin installation due to a missing capability check on the install_elementor_plugin_handler() function. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.6 and carries a CVSS score of 8.8 under CWE-862.

Authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above can exploit the issue to install and activate arbitrary plugins. This capability can be leveraged to further compromise a victim site, particularly when Elementor itself is not activated.

Public references include a Wordfence threat intelligence entry and a ThemeForest item for the related Arolax theme, which document the vulnerability but do not detail specific patches or mitigation steps in the available information. The associated EPSS score remains flat at 0.1110 with no material increase observed after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

The Animation Addons for Elementor Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary plugin installation due to a missing capability check on the install_elementor_plugin_handler() function in all versions up to, and including, 1.6. This makes it possible for authenticated…

more

attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to further infect a victim when Elementor is not activated on a vulnerable site.

CWE(s)
CWE-862

Related Threats

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 →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability allows authenticated low-privilege (Subscriber) users to bypass authorization and install arbitrary plugins on a public-facing WordPress site, directly enabling exploitation of the application (T1190) for privilege escalation (T1068) to achieve backdoor deployment or further compromise.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-4100Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-32501Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-31194Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-6963Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-9195Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-6380Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-0506Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-2110Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-27270Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-6510Shared CWE-862

Affected Assets

crowdytheme
arolax
≤ 1.7

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

CM-11 User-installed Software good match
prevent

Directly prohibits or authorizes user-installed software, preventing authenticated low-privilege users from installing arbitrary plugins via the vulnerable function.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match
prevent

Enforces least privilege to ensure subscriber-level users lack capabilities for plugin installation and activation.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match
prevent

Mandates enforcement of approved authorizations, addressing the missing capability check in the install_elementor_plugin_handler() function.

References