dbcve.org
Improper Input ValidationWeakness · CWE-20

CVE-2025-14156

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-15
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 Fox LMS – WordPress LMS Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.5.1. This is due to the plugin not properly validating the 'role' parameter when creating new users via the `/fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order` REST API endpoint. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create new user accounts with arbitrary roles, including administrator, leading to complete site compromise.

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 Fox LMS WordPress plugin has a critical privilege escalation vulnerability in versions up to 1.0.5.1. The REST API endpoint `/fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order` does not validate the 'role' parameter when creating new user accounts, allowing unauthenticated attackers to specify any role including administrator and achieve full site compromise.

MitigationUpdate to version 1.0.5.2 or later immediately. Until patched, consider disabling the plugin or using WAF rules to block the vulnerable REST API endpoint.

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. Verify Fox LMS plugin installation and version
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins, locate 'Fox LMS' and note the version number. Alternatively, check the file /wp-content/plugins/fox-lms/readme.txt or the plugin header in /wp-content/plugins/fox-lms/fox-lms.php for the Version field.
    Affected if The plugin is installed and the version is 1.0.5.1 or lower (any version below 1.0.5.2).
  2. Confirm the REST API endpoint is registered
    Make a GET request to your site at /wp-json/fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order or /wp-json/ and search the response for 'fox-lms/v1/payments' routes. You can also use a tool like WP-CLI: wp rest-api route list | grep fox-lms
    Affected if The endpoint /fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order is listed in the registered REST API routes.
  3. Test if the endpoint accepts a role parameter without validation
    Send a POST request to /wp-json/fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order with a test payload that includes a 'role' parameter set to 'administrator' (or inspect the plugin source code in /wp-content/plugins/fox-lms/includes/ for the create-order endpoint handler to see if role validation exists).
    Affected if The endpoint accepts a 'role' parameter in the request and creates a user with that role without requiring admin privileges or validating the role value.

You are affected if the Fox LMS plugin is installed at version 1.0.5.1 or lower and the /fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order REST API endpoint is accessible and processes a 'role' parameter without authorization checks.

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 to version 1.0.5.2 or later immediately. Until patched, consider disabling the plugin or using WAF rules to block the vulnerable REST API endpoint.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Contact vendor for specific fixed release version (1.0.6 or higher expected)

  1. 1. Immediately disable the Fox LMS plugin to prevent exploitation
  2. 2. Check if any unauthorized administrator accounts have been created on the site
  3. 3. Remove any suspicious newly created user accounts, especially those with administrator role
  4. 4. Force password reset for all existing user accounts as a precaution
  5. 5. Review server access logs for POST requests to /fox-lms/v1/payments/create-order from unknown IP addresses
  6. 6. Contact the plugin developer (Fox LMS) to confirm the patched version number and apply the update immediately upon release
  7. 7. After updating, verify the REST API endpoint properly validates the role parameter and rejects arbitrary role assignment
  8. 8. Consider implementing additional firewall rules to restrict access to the /fox-lms/ REST API endpoints until the patch is applied

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2025-14156 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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