Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-11988

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-11
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 Crypto plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized manipulation of data in all versions up to, and including, 2.22. This is due to the plugin registering an unauthenticated AJAX action (wp_ajax_nopriv_crypto_connect_ajax_process) that allows calling the crypto_delete_json method with only a publicly-available nonce check. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete specific JSON files matching the pattern *_pending.json within the wp-content/uploads/yak/ directory, causing data loss and denial of service for plugin workflows that rely on these artifacts.

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 Crypto WordPress plugin registers an unauthenticated AJAX action (wp_ajax_nopriv_crypto_connect_ajax_process) that allows calling the crypto_delete_json method. Attackers can exploit this to delete *_pending.json files in wp-content/uploads/yak/, causing data loss and denial of service.

MitigationUpdate the Crypto plugin to a patched version once available, or temporarily disable the plugin. Alternatively, block the vulnerable AJAX endpoint at the web server level until a fix is released.

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. Verify Crypto plugin is installed
    List the contents of wp-content/plugins/ directory and look for a folder named 'crypto' or similar. Alternatively, check the WordPress plugins admin page for an entry named 'Crypto'.
    Affected if The Crypto plugin is found in the plugins directory or listed in WordPress admin.
  2. Check the installed plugin version
    Open the main plugin file (e.g., crypto.php) in wp-content/plugins/crypto/ and look for a 'Version:' header in the plugin file comments. Compare this version against the patched version once released.
    Affected if The installed version is older than the patched version (version comparison not possible until patched version is known).
  3. Test if vulnerable AJAX endpoint is exposed
    Send a POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with the parameter action=crypto_connect_ajax_process. For example: curl -X POST http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php -d 'action=crypto_connect_ajax_process'. A response (even an error) indicates the endpoint is registered.
    Affected if The AJAX endpoint responds, indicating the vulnerable action is registered and accessible without authentication.
  4. Verify the yak upload directory exists
    Check for the existence of wp-content/uploads/yak/ directory on the server. List the directory contents to see if any *_pending.json files are present.
    Affected if The wp-content/uploads/yak/ directory exists and contains JSON files, indicating the plugin functionality is active and vulnerable to deletion attacks.

A user is affected if the Crypto WordPress plugin is installed with its vulnerable unauthenticated AJAX endpoint exposed, allowing attackers to delete files in the yak upload directory.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the Crypto plugin to a patched version once available, or temporarily disable the plugin. Alternatively, block the vulnerable AJAX endpoint at the web server level until a fix is released.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-11988 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-11988 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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