CVE-2025-12099
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 · uneditedThe Academy LMS – WordPress LMS Plugin for Complete eLearning Solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.8 via deserialization of untrusted input in the 'import_all_courses' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.
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 confidenceThe Academy LMS WordPress plugin is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection via deserialization of untrusted input in the 'import_all_courses' function. Authenticated administrators can inject arbitrary PHP objects. Without an existing POP chain in the plugin, successful exploitation requires another plugin or theme with a POP chain to achieve code execution or file operations.
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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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.
-
Confirm Academy LMS plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins, or inspect the wp-content/plugins directory for a folder named 'academy' or 'academy-lms'. Check the main plugin file (e.g., academy.php) for the version declaration.Affected if The plugin is present on the WordPress installation
-
Identify the installed Academy LMS versionOpen the main plugin file (academy.php or similar) and locate the 'Version:' header in the plugin comments, or check the WordPress Plugins admin page for the installed version number.Affected if The installed version is lower than 3.3.9 (the patched version)
-
Verify administrator access existsCheck WordPress user roles to confirm if any user account has Administrator privileges, as exploitation requires a user with admin-level access to trigger the 'import_all_courses' function.Affected if There is at least one user with Administrator role on the site
-
Confirm the import_all_courses function is accessibleLocate the function 'import_all_courses' in the plugin files (likely in admin or import-related PHP files). Check if it is hooked to an admin action/filter that can be reached without additional access controls.Affected if The function is reachable via WordPress admin without extra authorization checks beyond admin authentication
-
Audit for potential POP chain sourcesReview installed plugins and themes for known PHP Object Injection POP chain gadgets. Check common vulnerable plugins (like WooCommerce, BuddyPress, or themes with deserialization logic) that could be chained with this vulnerability.Affected if Other plugins or themes with exploitable unserialize() calls are installed alongside Academy LMS
A site is affected if it runs Academy LMS versions before 3.3.9, has at least one Administrator-level user, and the import_all_courses function is accessible to that user, especially if other plugins with POP chains are present.
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 the Academy LMS plugin to version 3.3.9 or later. Audit the WordPress installation for other plugins/themes that may provide a POP chain. Restrict administrator-level access and implement additional access controls on the affected function until patched.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12099 — 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-2025-12099 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
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.
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