Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2025-13764

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-11
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 WP CarDealer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.2.16. This is due to the 'WP_CarDealer_User::process_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 WP CarDealer WordPress plugin contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the process_register function which fails to validate or restrict the user role parameter during registration. Unauthenticated attackers can explicitly specify the 'administrator' role in their registration request and immediately gain full administrative access to the WordPress site.

MitigationUpdate the WP CarDealer plugin to a patched version once available. If no patched version exists, disable the plugin until a fix is released, as the vulnerability is exploitable by any unauthenticated user.

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. Confirm WP CarDealer plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and locate 'WP CarDealer' in the list of installed plugins. Note the installed version number displayed next to the plugin name.
    Affected if The plugin is present in the plugins list
  2. Check WordPress user registration setting
    Go to WordPress Admin > Settings > General and locate the 'Membership' setting. Verify whether 'Anyone can register' is enabled.
    Affected if Anyone can register is checked and the role is set to Subscriber, Contributor, Author, or Editor (any role that can be overridden)
  3. Verify the plugin registration endpoint is accessible
    Attempt to access the registration form provided by WP CarDealer, typically found at /wp-car-dealer-register/ or similar URL on the site frontend. Check if the form loads and accepts role parameters.
    Affected if The registration form loads and allows role selection or submission
  4. Audit administrator accounts for unauthorized users
    Navigate to WordPress Admin > Users and review the list of users with Administrator role. Verify each account was created by a known administrator and check the account creation date.
    Affected if There are administrator accounts that were not created by known site administrators or that appeared recently without explanation

A site is affected if WP CarDealer plugin is installed, WordPress user registration is enabled, and the plugin registration form is publicly accessible, allowing any visitor to register with administrator privileges.

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 the WP CarDealer plugin to a patched version once available. If no patched version exists, disable the plugin until a fix is released, as the vulnerability is exploitable by any unauthenticated user.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-13764 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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