dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-15157

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 Starfish Review Generation & Marketing for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to privilege escalation due to a missing capability check on the 'srm_restore_options_defaults' function in all versions up to, and including, 3.1.19. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to update the default role for registration to administrator and enable user registration for attackers to gain administrative user access to a vulnerable 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 Starfish Review plugin for WordPress contains a missing capability check in the 'srm_restore_options_defaults' function, allowing any authenticated user with Subscriber-level access to modify arbitrary WordPress options. Attackers can exploit this to change the default registration role to Administrator and enable user registration, achieving full administrative access to the site.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to version 3.1.20 or later which includes proper capability checks. Consider disabling user registration or monitoring for unauthorized administrative accounts until the patch is applied.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Starfish Review plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins and check if the Starfish Review plugin is present and active
    Affected if The Starfish Review plugin is installed and active
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, locate Starfish Review and note the version number listed in the plugin metadata
    Affected if Version is 3.1.19 or lower
  3. Inspect user registration setting
    Go to WordPress admin > Settings > General and examine the 'Anyone can register' checkbox - verify whether this was intentionally enabled
    Affected if User registration is enabled but was not manually set by an administrator
  4. Review default new user role
    Go to WordPress admin > Settings > General and check the 'Default Role' dropdown - confirm this setting matches what your site policy intends
    Affected if Default role is set to Administrator and this was not explicitly configured by an admin
  5. Audit for unauthorized admin accounts
    Go to WordPress admin > Users and examine all accounts with Administrator role - look for accounts you do not recognize or did not create
    Affected if Unexpected administrator-level accounts exist in the system

The environment is affected if the Starfish Review plugin version is 3.1.19 or lower and either user registration settings, default role, or unauthorized admin accounts are present without deliberate admin configuration.

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 plugin to version 3.1.20 or later which includes proper capability checks. Consider disabling user registration or monitoring for unauthorized administrative accounts until the patch is applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

Starfish Review Generation & Marketing plugin version 3.1.20 or later

  1. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Locate the 'Starfish Review Generation & Marketing' plugin
  3. Check the current version (should be 3.1.19 or lower)
  4. Update the plugin to the latest available version (3.1.20 or higher)
  5. Verify the update was successful and the plugin is now running a patched version
  6. Review user accounts on the site to ensure no unauthorized administrator accounts were created

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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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-2025-15157 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