Subscriber-to-Administrator escalation via unrestricted user meta update
Published Apr 25, 2025 · Updated Apr 8, 2026
Privilege escalation in Vikinger 1.9.30 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to obtain WordPress Administrator privileges. The vikinger_user_meta_update_ajax function accepts changes to security-sensitive user metadata without restricting which keys Subscriber accounts may update. Subscriber-level access is sufficient to rewrite an account's role metadata and gain administrative control over the WordPress site.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Vikinger 1.9.30 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to obtain WordPress Administrator privileges. The vikinger_user_meta_update_ajax function accepts changes to security-sensitive user metadata without restricting which keys Subscriber accounts may update. Subscriber-level access is sufficient to rewrite an account's role metadata and gain administrative control over the WordPress site.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-2238
- Published
- Apr 25, 2025
- Updated
- Apr 8, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-269, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 25, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 8, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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