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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2025-13540

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Tiare Membership plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.2. This is due to the 'tiare_membership_init_rest_api_register' function not restricting what user roles a user can register with. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to supply the 'administrator' role during registration and gain administrator access to the site.

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 Tiare Membership WordPress plugin has a privilege escalation vulnerability in its REST API registration function. Unauthenticated attackers can register new user accounts with the administrator role by supplying it during registration, bypassing intended role restrictions and gaining full administrative access to the site.

MitigationImmediately disable or remove the Tiare Membership plugin until a patched version is available. Review existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator accounts and remove them. Consider implementing web application firewall rules to block the registration endpoint as a temporary measure.

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 if Tiare Membership plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins. Look for 'Tiare Membership' in the list of installed plugins. Alternatively, check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'tiare-membership' or similar.
    Affected if The Tiare Membership plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Check if the REST registration endpoint is exposed
    Send a GET request to /wp-json/tiare/v1/register or /wp-json/tiare-membership/v1/register (try common endpoint patterns). Also try a POST request with dummy registration data to see if the endpoint accepts unauthenticated requests.
    Affected if The endpoint responds and does not return a 401/403 authentication error
  3. Test for role manipulation in registration
    Send a POST request to the registration endpoint with a payload including a 'role' parameter set to 'administrator', such as: {"username":"testuser","email":"[email protected]","role":"administrator","password":"testpass123"}. Check if the response indicates successful registration with administrator role.
    Affected if The registration completes without rejecting the administrator role request
  4. Review user accounts for unauthorized administrators
    Go to WordPress admin > Users. Examine the list of users with Administrator role. Look for any accounts you did not create, especially with generic usernames or unusual email domains. Check user registration dates.
    Affected if There are administrator accounts that were not created by legitimate site administrators
  5. Check the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin > Plugins > Tiare Membership, look at the version number displayed below the plugin name. Compare against any official security advisories from the plugin developer.
    Affected if The plugin version matches or is older than the affected version listed in security advisories (version information was not specified in CVE data)

If the Tiare Membership plugin is installed, its registration endpoint accepts unauthenticated requests, or unauthorized administrator accounts exist, the environment is likely affected by this privilege escalation 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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately disable or remove the Tiare Membership plugin until a patched version is available. Review existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator accounts and remove them. Consider implementing web application firewall rules to block the registration endpoint as a temporary measure.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,980
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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-2025-13540 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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