dbcve.org
Improper AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-285

CVE-2025-11256

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The Kognetiks Chatbot plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on several functions in all versions up to, and including, 2.3.5. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload limited safe files and erase conversations.

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 confidence

The Kognetiks Chatbot WordPress plugin up to version 2.3.5 has a broken access control vulnerability where several functions lack proper capability checks. This allows unauthenticated attackers to upload limited safe files and erase conversations by directly accessing functions that should require authentication or elevated privileges.

MitigationUpdate the Kognetiks Chatbot plugin to the latest version (2.3.6 or later) which includes proper capability checks on the affected functions. If immediate update is not possible, restrict access to the affected endpoints at the web server level.

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
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Kognetiks Chatbot plugin is installed
    Look for the plugin directory at wp-content/plugins/kognetiks-chatbot/ or check in WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed Plugins for 'Kognetiks Chatbot'
    Affected if The plugin directory exists or the plugin appears in the WordPress admin plugins list
  2. Determine the installed plugin version
    Open the main plugin file (typically kognetiks-chatbot.php) and look for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block, or check the version in readme.txt
    Affected if The version number found is 2.3.5 or lower (any version up to and including 2.3.5)
  3. Verify the chatbot settings are publicly accessible
    Test unauthenticated access to the plugin's AJAX endpoints or API routes - look for wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=kognetiks_chatbot_* calls or similar REST API endpoints at /wp-json/kognetiks-chatbot/*
    Affected if The endpoints respond without requiring login authentication (HTTP 200 instead of 401/403)
  4. Check if conversation deletion is exposed
    Search plugin PHP files for functions handling conversation erasure (look for 'erase', 'delete', 'clear' combined with 'conversation' or 'chat') and verify if they are hooked to wp_ajax_nopriv_ or wp_ajax hooks without capability checks
    Affected if Functions that erase conversations are hooked to unauthenticated AJAX actions (wp_ajax_nopriv_*) without current_user_can() checks

A user is affected if the Kognetiks Chatbot plugin version is 2.3.5 or lower AND the plugin is active on their WordPress site, allowing unauthenticated access to file upload or conversation deletion functions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the Kognetiks Chatbot plugin to the latest version (2.3.6 or later) which includes proper capability checks on the affected functions. If immediate update is not possible, restrict access to the affected endpoints at the web server level.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version 2.3.6 or later (check WordPress plugin repository for latest stable release)

  1. 1. Check the WordPress plugin repository or the Kognetiks Chatbot plugin page for the latest version
  2. 2. Verify the changelog or security release notes to confirm version 2.3.6 or later contains the security fix for CVE-2025-11256
  3. 3. Create a full backup of the WordPress site, including the database and plugin files
  4. 4. Update the Kognetiks Chatbot plugin to the latest available version (preferably 2.3.6 or later)
  5. 5. Verify the update was successful by checking the plugin version in WordPress admin
  6. 6. Test that the chatbot functionality still works correctly after the update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-11256 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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