Unauthenticated administrator access via truncated MD5 token
Published Dec 3, 2025 · Updated Dec 8, 2025
Authentication bypass in WP Directory Kit 1.4.0 through 1.4.4 allows remote attackers to obtain administrative WordPress sessions. The wdk_generate_auto_login_link function truncates a concatenation beginning with the user ID's MD5 hash to ten characters, excluding the secret key from the resulting token. The always-enabled auto-login endpoint accepts the predictable token and sets an authentication cookie for the selected account, enabling full site takeover when an administrator ID is targeted.
Summary
What happened
Authentication bypass in WP Directory Kit 1.4.0 through 1.4.4 allows remote attackers to obtain administrative WordPress sessions. The wdk_generate_auto_login_link function truncates a concatenation beginning with the user ID's MD5 hash to ten characters, excluding the secret key from the resulting token. The always-enabled auto-login endpoint accepts the predictable token and sets an authentication cookie for the selected account, enabling full site takeover when an administrator ID is targeted.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-13390
- Published
- Dec 3, 2025
- Updated
- Dec 8, 2025
- Vendor
- WP Directory Kit
- Product
- WP Directory Kit
- Classifications
- CWE-303, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 3, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Dec 8, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1.4.0 <=1.4.4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- CVE-2025-13390 shell proof of conceptfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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