Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-12641

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
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 Awesome Support - WordPress HelpDesk & Support Plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to missing capability checks in all versions up to, and including, 6.3.6. This is due to the 'wpas_do_mr_activate_user' function not verifying that a user has permission to modify other users' roles, combined with a nonce reuse vulnerability where public registration nonces are valid for privileged actions because all actions share the same nonce namespace. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to demote administrators to low-privilege roles via the 'wpas-do=mr_activate_user' action with a user-controlled 'user_id' parameter, granted they can access the publicly available registration/submit ticket page to extract a valid nonce.

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 Awesome Support WordPress plugin versions up to 6.3.6 have an authorization bypass vulnerability in the 'wpas_do_mr_activate_user' function. This function lacks capability checks to verify if the current user has permission to modify user roles, and it suffers from a nonce reuse flaw where public registration nonces are valid for privileged administrative actions due to shared nonce namespaces. Unauthenticated attackers can demote administrators by submitting the 'wpas-do=mr_activate_user' action with a user-controlled 'user_id' parameter using a nonce extracted from the public ticket/registration page.

MitigationUpdate Awesome Support plugin to version 6.3.7 or later which includes proper capability checks and nonce namespace separation. If immediate update is not possible, disable the user management functionality or restrict access to the registration/submit ticket pages.

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
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Verify Awesome Support plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Awesome Support' or check the plugins directory for the awesome-support folder
    Affected if The Awesome Support plugin is installed and active
  2. Check the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and click on 'View Details' for Awesome Support, or read the main plugin file (awesome-support/wp-support.php) to find the 'Version' header
    Affected if Version is 6.3.6 or earlier
  3. Verify the vulnerable function exists
    Check the plugin files for the function 'wpas_do_mr_activate_user' - typically in includes/functions-user.php or similar user-related files
    Affected if The function exists and contains no capability checks (look for missing current_user_can() or wpas_permission() calls before role modification)
  4. Check if public registration or ticket submission is enabled
    Navigate to Awesome Support settings in WordPress admin (Awesome Support > Settings) and verify if 'Allow Public Registration' or 'Enable Ticket Submission' is enabled
    Affected if Public registration or ticket submission pages are accessible to unauthenticated users
  5. Inspect nonce handling in the vulnerable function
    Examine the 'wpas_do_mr_activate_user' function code to see if it uses a shared nonce action (like 'wpas_mr_nonce') that is also used on public-facing pages
    Affected if The function uses a shared nonce namespace that can be obtained from public pages

If Awesome Support plugin version 6.3.6 or earlier is installed with public registration/ticket submission enabled, and the vulnerable function lacks capability checks with shared nonce handling, the site is affected by this authorization bypass.

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 Awesome Support plugin to version 6.3.7 or later which includes proper capability checks and nonce namespace separation. If immediate update is not possible, disable the user management functionality or restrict access to the registration/submit ticket pages.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2025-12641 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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