CVE-2025-1682
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 · uneditedThe Cardealer theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 1.6.4 due to missing capability check on the 'save_settings' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to modify the default user role.
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 confidenceThe Cardealer WordPress theme versions up to 1.6.4 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability due to missing capability checks on the 'save_settings' function, allowing authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access and above to modify the default user role setting.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Cardealer theme is installedNavigate to Appearance > Themes in the WordPress admin dashboard and verify the Cardealer theme is active. Alternatively, check the theme directory at wp-content/themes/cardealer for the theme files.Affected if Cardealer theme is present in the WordPress installation
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Check installed Cardealer theme versionLocate the style.css file in wp-content/themes/cardealer/ and look for the 'Version:' comment in the file header, or check the theme version displayed in Appearance > Themes.Affected if Version is 1.6.4 or earlier (versions up to 1.6.4 are affected)
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Verify subscriber-level users existCheck Users > All Users in the WordPress admin panel to see if any users with the Subscriber role exist. Alternatively, query the wp_usermeta table for users with wp_capabilities containing 'subscriber'.Affected if Any authenticated users with subscriber-level or higher access exist on the site
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Confirm default user role setting is configurableNavigate to the Cardealer theme settings panel (typically under Car Dealer > Theme Options or similar) and locate the default user role or new user role setting. Verify this setting can be modified without elevated admin capabilities.Affected if The default user role setting is exposed and modifiable by lower-privileged users
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Test if save_settings function is exposedInspect the theme's AJAX handlers or admin_init hooks in the theme code (typically in functions.php or includes files) to verify the save_settings function handles AJAX requests without checking user capabilities. Look for add_action calls referencing 'save_settings' or similar.Affected if The save_settings function handles requests without capability checks (wp_capabilities verification missing)
A user is affected if the Cardealer theme version is 1.6.4 or earlier AND any subscriber-level or higher authenticated users can access the theme settings to modify the default user role.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate to a patched version of the Cardealer theme or add proper capability checks (manage_options or similar) to the save_settings function before allowing user role modifications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-1682 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-1682 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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