CVE-2019-25738
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedWordPress Hybrid Composer 1.4.6 contains an unauthenticated settings change vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to modify WordPress options by exploiting the hc_ajax_save_option action. Attackers can send POST requests to the admin-ajax.php endpoint with the action parameter set to hc_ajax_save_option to enable user registration and set the default role to administrator, enabling account takeover.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceWordPress Hybrid Composer plugin version 1.4.6 has an unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in the hc_ajax_save_option action accessible via admin-ajax.php. Attackers can change WordPress settings to enable user registration and set the default role to administrator, then register an admin account and fully compromise the site.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Hybrid Composer plugin is installedNavigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in WordPress admin, or inspect /wp-content/plugins/ directory for the hybrid-composer folder. Check the plugin header for version number.Affected if Hybrid Composer version 1.4.6 is installed
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Verify plugin is activeIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and confirm Hybrid Composer shows as 'Active'.Affected if Hybrid Composer 1.4.6 is active on the site
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Confirm admin-ajax.php is accessible to unauthenticated usersSend a POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php without authentication headers. A response (even an error) indicates the endpoint is accessible. WordPress allows this by default.Affected if admin-ajax.php responds to unauthenticated POST requests (standard WordPress behavior)
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Check WordPress user registration settingGo to Settings > General in WordPress admin, or inspect the 'users_can_register' option in wp_options table. Value should be '0' or unchecked.Affected if 'Anyone can register' is enabled (users_can_register = 1)
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Check default user role settingGo to Settings > General, or inspect the 'default_role' option in wp_options table. Value should NOT be 'administrator'.Affected if Default role is set to 'administrator'
The site is affected if Hybrid Composer version 1.4.6 is active AND admin-ajax.php accepts unauthenticated requests AND user registration is enabled with administrator as the default role.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate Hybrid Composer to the latest patched version immediately. If no patch is available, disable the plugin. Audit for any unauthorized admin accounts created and remove them. Reset all user passwords as a precaution.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-25738 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-25738 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data