Incorrect AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-863

CVE-2025-15525

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-31
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 Ajax Load More – Infinite Scroll, Load More, & Lazy Load plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of data due to incorrect authorization on the parse_custom_args() function in all versions up to, and including, 7.8.1. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to expose the titles and excerpts of private, draft, pending, scheduled, and trashed posts.

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 Ajax Load More WordPress plugin has a broken access control vulnerability in the parse_custom_args() function. The function fails to properly validate user authorization before returning post data, allowing unauthenticated attackers to query and retrieve titles and excerpts from private, draft, pending, scheduled, and trashed posts via the WordPress REST API or ajax endpoints.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to version 7.8.2 or later which contains the authorization fix. Until then, restrict access to the ajax-load-more endpoint via server-side rules or disable the plugin if not needed.

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 Ajax Load More plugin is installed
    Check your WordPress plugins directory or use wp plugin list command to confirm ajax-load-more is active
    Affected if Plugin is installed and active
  2. Determine installed plugin version
    Check the plugin header in ajax-load-more.php or use wp plugin get ajax-load-more to see the Version field
    Affected if Version is lower than 7.8.2 (the fixed version)
  3. Confirm endpoint accessibility
    Send a GET request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ajax_load_more or /wp-json/ajax-load-more/v1/posts without authentication cookies
    Affected if Request returns post data without requiring authentication (status 200)
  4. Check for exposure of non-published content
    Inspect API response for posts with status: private, draft, pending, scheduled, or trash - these should NOT appear for unauthenticated users
    Affected if Response contains posts with non-published status without valid authentication

You are affected if Ajax Load More plugin versions below 7.8.2 are installed and the ajax-load-more endpoint responds without authentication, exposing non-published post content.

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 plugin to version 7.8.2 or later which contains the authorization fix. Until then, restrict access to the ajax-load-more endpoint via server-side rules or disable the plugin if not needed.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
19.0 hours of engineering $3,320
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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-2025-15525 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
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