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Authorization Bypass (IDOR)Weakness · CWE-639

CVE-2025-12524

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 Post Type Switcher plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in versions up to, and including, 4.0.0 due to missing validation on a user controlled key. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to modify the post type of arbitrary posts and pages they do not own, including those created by administrators, which can lead to site disruption, broken navigation, and SEO impact.

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 Post Type Switcher WordPress plugin (versions up to 4.0.0) lacks proper authorization validation when processing post type switch requests. The plugin accepts a user-controlled parameter (likely a post ID) without verifying the current user has permission to modify that specific post, allowing any authenticated Author or higher to change the post type of arbitrary content including administrator-owned posts.

MitigationUpdate the Post Type Switcher plugin to version 4.0.1 or later which implements proper capability checks and nonce validation. If unable to update immediately, restrict the upload_plugins capability to prevent untrusted users from installing or updating plugins.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

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

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. Locate Post Type Switcher plugin installation
    Check your WordPress installation's wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'post-type-switcher' or similar. Alternatively, in WordPress admin go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Post Type Switcher'.
    Affected if Plugin folder exists in wp-content/plugins/ or plugin appears in WordPress admin plugin list
  2. Determine installed plugin version
    If the plugin is installed, open the main plugin PHP file (typically post-type-switcher.php or similar in the plugin folder) and locate the 'Version:' header in the plugin comment block at the top. Compare this version number to 4.0.0.
    Affected if Version number is 4.0.0 or lower (e.g., 4.0.0, 3.5.2, etc.)
  3. Verify plugin is active
    In WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, check if Post Type Switcher shows as 'Active' rather than 'Inactive' or 'Must-Use'.
    Affected if Plugin shows status as 'Active' in the WordPress plugins list
  4. Identify users with Author role or higher
    In WordPress admin > Users, review the user list to see how many accounts have the Author role or higher (Editor, Administrator, Super Admin). Any such user could potentially exploit this vulnerability.
    Affected if At least one user account with Author, Editor, or Administrator role exists on the site
  5. Check for admin-owned posts that could be modified
    In WordPress admin > Posts (or Pages), identify posts authored by administrators. The vulnerability allows any Author+ user to change the post type of these administrator-owned posts.
    Affected if Any posts exist on the site (especially those authored by administrators)

Environment is affected if Post Type Switcher plugin is installed, active, and running version 4.0.0 or lower, with at least one user having Author role or higher who could exploit the missing authorization check.

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 Post Type Switcher plugin to version 4.0.1 or later which implements proper capability checks and nonce validation. If unable to update immediately, restrict the upload_plugins capability to prevent untrusted users from installing or updating plugins.

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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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-2025-12524 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
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