dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-12714

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-29
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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access due to a missing capability check on the update_site_editor_homepage function in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.271. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to modify several plugin settings including homepage title, meta description, breadcrumbs label, and social media metadata, which can have severe impact on SEO rankings and display malicious content across all site pages where breadcrumbs are used.

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 Rank Math SEO plugin for WordPress has a broken access control vulnerability where the update_site_editor_homepage function lacks a capability check, allowing unauthenticated attackers to modify critical SEO settings including homepage title, meta description, breadcrumbs labels, and social media metadata via the REST API.

MitigationUpdate the Rank Math SEO plugin to version 1.0.272 or later, which includes the missing capability check. Until updated, monitor for unauthorized changes to SEO settings and consider restricting REST API access for unauthenticated users.

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 Rank Math SEO plugin is installed
    Check your WordPress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/rank-math-seo) or view the installed plugins in WordPress admin under Plugins
    Affected if Rank Math SEO plugin is present in the installation
  2. Identify installed Rank Math version
    Check the main plugin file (rank-math.php) in the plugin directory for the 'Version' header, or use WP-CLI: wp plugin get rank-math-seo
    Affected if The version is lower than 1.0.272 (vulnerable versions: < 1.0.272)
  3. Verify the vulnerable AJAX endpoint is exposed
    Check if the AJAX action update_site_editor_homepage is registered for unauthenticated access. Examine plugin code for add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_update_site_editor_homepage', ...) or test the endpoint at /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=update_site_editor_homepage
    Affected if The AJAX endpoint responds to unauthenticated (logged-out) requests
  4. Confirm SEO settings are modifiable without authentication
    Send a crafted POST request to admin-ajax.php with action=update_site_editor_homepage and test data (e.g., setting a homepage title) without authenticating
    Affected if The request succeeds and settings are modified without authentication

If Rank Math SEO is installed with a version lower than 1.0.272 and the update_site_editor_homepage AJAX endpoint accepts unauthenticated requests, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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 Rank Math SEO plugin to version 1.0.272 or later, which includes the missing capability check. Until updated, monitor for unauthorized changes to SEO settings and consider restricting REST API access for unauthenticated users.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.0.272 or later

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate 'Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings' in the plugin list
  4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to update to the latest version (1.0.272 or later)
  5. Alternatively, go to Dashboard > Updates and click 'Update Now' for the Rank Math plugin
  6. After updating, verify the new version number in the plugins list to confirm the update was successful

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-12714 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-12714 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