CVE-2025-1682
Published: 28 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-1682 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Themeforest (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 21.1th 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 AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-1682 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Cardealer theme for WordPress, affecting versions up to and including 1.6.4. The issue arises from a missing capability check in the 'save_settings' function, classified as CWE-862 (Missing Authorization). It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), reflecting high severity due to its potential for significant confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
Authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access or higher can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation enables them to modify the default user role, allowing privilege escalation on the targeted WordPress site.
Advisories and patch information are available from referenced sources, including the theme's changelog at https://webtemplatemasters.com/cardealer/changelog/#v165 (noting version 1.6.5), Wordfence threat intelligence at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4e337281-f05e-486c-9491-161365af252a?source=cve, and the theme page at https://themeforest.net/item/car-dealer-automotive-wordpress-theme-responsive/8574708. Security practitioners should update to a patched version and review access controls for low-privilege users.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-5486
Vulnerability details
The Cardealer theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 1.6.4 due to missing capability check on the 'save_settings' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to modify…
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the default user role.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Missing authorization check enables authenticated low-privilege users to modify default roles for privilege escalation.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly addresses the missing capability check by enforcing approved authorizations for logical access to modify settings.
Implements least privilege to restrict subscriber-level users from performing administrative actions like modifying default user roles.
Mandates timely flaw remediation, such as patching the Cardealer theme to version 1.6.5, to correct the missing authorization vulnerability.