dbcve.org
Information ExposureWeakness · CWE-200

CVE-2025-12770

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-19
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 New User Approve plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized data disclosure in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.9 due to insufficient API key validation using loose equality comparison. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to retrieve personally identifiable information (PII), including usernames and email addresses of users with various approval statuses via the Zapier REST API endpoints, by exploiting PHP type juggling with the api_key parameter set to "0" on sites where the Zapier API key has not been configured.

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 New User Approve WordPress plugin versions up to 3.0.9 fails to properly validate the Zapier REST API key due to loose equality (==) comparison instead of strict comparison (===). When the Zapier API key is not configured on a site, attackers can pass api_key="0" and exploit PHP type juggling to bypass authentication, allowing unauthenticated retrieval of user PII including usernames and email addresses.

MitigationUpdate the New User Approve plugin to version 3.0.10 or later which implements strict API key validation. Ensure the Zapier API key is properly configured if using the integration.

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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. Identify New User Approve plugin installation and version
    Check the plugin directory wp-content/plugins/new-user-approve/ and read the main plugin file header for the Version field, or query the WordPress plugins API endpoint /wp-json/wp/v2/plugins?search=new-user-approve
    Affected if The installed version is 3.0.9 or lower (any version up to and including 3.0.9 is vulnerable)
  2. Verify if Zapier integration is in use
    Navigate to the plugin settings page in WordPress admin (typically under Users > New User Approve or Settings) and check if a Zapier API key has been configured in the integration settings
    Affected if The Zapier API key field is empty or not configured - this is the condition that makes the type juggling attack possible
  3. Identify the vulnerable API endpoint
    Locate the file handling the Zapier REST API route (commonly in includes/class-new-user-approve-zapier.php or similar) and verify if the authentication logic uses loose equality (==) for api_key comparison
    Affected if The code uses == (loose equality) instead of === (strict equality) for comparing the submitted api_key parameter against the configured key, and the check fails to handle the '0' type juggling case when no key is configured
  4. Confirm exposed user data endpoint accessibility
    Test unauthenticated access to the Zapier user retrieval endpoint (typically /wp-json/new-user-approve/v1/users or similar) by sending a request with api_key='0' and observe if user PII (usernames, emails) is returned without authentication
    Affected if The endpoint returns user data (usernames, email addresses) without requiring valid authentication when api_key='0' is submitted and no Zapier key is configured

A site is affected if the New User Approve plugin version is 3.0.9 or lower AND the Zapier API key is not configured, allowing unauthenticated attackers to retrieve user PII via the type juggling 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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the New User Approve plugin to version 3.0.10 or later which implements strict API key validation. Ensure the Zapier API key is properly configured if using the integration.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version 3.1.0 or later

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Find the 'New User Approve' plugin
  4. Check if an update is available (version 3.1.0 or later)
  5. If update available, click 'Update Now' to install the patched version
  6. If no automatic update appears, manually download version 3.1.0 or later from the WordPress plugin repository and upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
  7. After updating, verify the Zapier API key is properly configured in the plugin settings (set a strong, configured API key rather than leaving it blank)

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-2025-12770 — 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-2025-12770 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