dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-12891

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-13
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 Survey Maker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of data due to a missing capability check on the 'ays_survey_show_results' AJAX endpoint in all versions up to, and including, 5.1.9.4. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to view all survey submissions.

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 Survey Maker WordPress plugin has a broken access control vulnerability in the 'ays_survey_show_results' AJAX endpoint. The endpoint lacks a capability check, allowing any unauthenticated user to query it and retrieve all survey submissions stored in the database. This is a classic IDOR/broken access control flaw where the server fails to verify the user's authorization before returning sensitive data.

MitigationUpdate the Survey Maker plugin to version 5.2.0 or later, which includes proper capability checks on the AJAX endpoint. If immediate updating is not possible, restrict access to the vulnerable AJAX action at the web server level or implement a temporary firewall rule.

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. Verify Survey Maker plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Survey Maker' or check the file /wp-content/plugins/survey-maker/plugin.php for the version defined in the plugin header
    Affected if The plugin is present in the WordPress installation
  2. Determine the installed plugin version
    Open /wp-content/plugins/survey-maker/plugin.php and look for the 'Version:' field in the plugin header comment, or check the version in WordPress admin plugin list
    Affected if Version is lower than 5.2.0 (vulnerable versions)
  3. Test unauthenticated access to the vulnerable AJAX endpoint
    Send a POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=ays_survey_show_results and a survey_id parameter, without including any authentication cookies or nonce
    Affected if The endpoint returns survey submission data without requiring authentication or returning a permission error
  4. Inspect the AJAX handler for capability checks
    Examine the PHP file handling the ays_survey_show_results action (typically in /wp-content/plugins/survey-maker/includes or similar), look for current_user_can() or a capability verification before processing the request
    Affected if No capability check (like current_user_can('manage_options')) is found before processing the survey results request
  5. Check WordPress error logs for unauthorized access attempts
    Review /wp-content/debug.log (if logging is enabled) or server access logs for repeated unauthenticated POST requests to admin-ajax.php?action=ays_survey_show_results
    Affected if Many requests from unauthenticated IPs are hitting this endpoint

If Survey Maker plugin versions before 5.2.0 are installed and the ays_survey_show_results AJAX endpoint responds to unauthenticated requests without a capability check, the environment is affected by CVE-2025-12891.

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 Survey Maker plugin to version 5.2.0 or later, which includes proper capability checks on the AJAX endpoint. If immediate updating is not possible, restrict access to the vulnerable AJAX action at the web server level or implement a temporary firewall rule.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Any version newer than 5.1.9.4 (check WordPress plugin repository for latest release)

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate 'The Survey Maker' plugin in the plugin list
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the updated plugin from the WordPress plugin repository and upload it manually
  6. 6. After updating, verify that the 'ays_survey_show_results' AJAX endpoint now properly checks user capabilities

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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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-2025-12891 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
  • 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