Employee-to-Administrator escalation via unchecked role assignment
Published Jul 4, 2025 · Updated Jul 8, 2025
Missing authorization in WP Human Resource Management 2.0.0 through 2.2.17 allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access. The ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() functions pass a client-supplied role through hrm_clean() to wp_insert_user() and set_role() without checking role-assignment authority. Employee-level access is sufficient to submit an Administrator role value and gain full control of the WordPress site.
Summary
What happened
Missing authorization in WP Human Resource Management 2.0.0 through 2.2.17 allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access. The ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() functions pass a client-supplied role through hrm_clean() to wp_insert_user() and set_role() without checking role-assignment authority. Employee-level access is sufficient to submit an Administrator role value and gain full control of the WordPress site.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-5953
- Published
- Jul 4, 2025
- Updated
- Jul 8, 2025
- Vendor
- asaquzzaman
- Product
- WP Human Resource Management
- Classifications
- CWE-862, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 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=2.0.0 <=2.2.17
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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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