Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-69298

High

Published: 20 February 2026

Published
20 February 2026
Modified
27 April 2026
KEV Added
—
Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0004 13.1th percentile
Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-69298 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 13.1th 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-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2025-69298 is a missing authorization vulnerability, classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), in the GhostPool Gauge WordPress theme. The issue allows exploitation of incorrectly configured access control security levels and affects Gauge versions from n/a through 6.56.4. It was published on 2026-02-20T16:22:16.557 with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation results in high integrity impact, enabling unauthorized modifications to the affected system without compromising confidentiality or availability.

The Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Theme/gauge/vulnerability/wordpress-gauge-theme-6-56-4-broken-access-control-vulnerability?_s_id=cve documents the broken access control vulnerability in the WordPress Gauge theme version 6.56.4.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Missing Authorization vulnerability in GhostPool Gauge gauge allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Gauge: from n/a through <= 6.56.4.

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 →
Why these techniques?

Missing authorization (CWE-862) in public-facing WordPress theme directly enables remote exploitation of the web application without authentication.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-45209Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-25026Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-42083Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-0656Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-24532Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-13603Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-69063Shared CWE-862
CVE-2026-3045Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-67956Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-41765Shared CWE-862

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match
prevent

Directly requires enforcement of approved authorizations for logical access to system resources, addressing the core missing authorization vulnerability in the Gauge theme.

AC-24 Access Control Decisions good match
prevent

Mandates explicit authorization decisions for access to system resources by defined personnel or roles, countering exploitation of incorrectly configured access control levels.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match
prevent

Enforces least privilege to restrict unauthorized modifications, mitigating the high integrity impact from unauthenticated access even if enforcement is imperfect.

References