dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-23613

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in mediabeta WP Journal wpjournal allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects WP Journal: from n/a through <= 1.1.

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 · moderate confidence

The WP Journal plugin (wpjournal) by mediabeta contains a missing authorization vulnerability allowing attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. This broken access control issue enables unauthorized users to perform actions or access resources that should require higher privileges.

MitigationImplement proper authorization checks on all sensitive functions and endpoints, ensuring users can only access resources and perform actions appropriate to their privilege level.

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 WP Journal plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins, or inspect the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for the wpjournal folder
    Affected if The WP Journal plugin by mediabeta is present on the WordPress site
  2. Determine installed WP Journal version
    Check the plugin header in wpjournal.php file for the Version field, or view in WordPress plugin list
    Affected if Unable to confirm the installed version is patched (no fixed version specified in CVE)
  3. Identify sensitive plugin endpoints
    Review plugin source files in /wp-content/plugins/wpjournal/ for PHP files containing add_action or add_shortcode calls, particularly admin or AJAX handlers
    Affected if Plugin exposes functionality without checking user capabilities via current_user_can() or similar authorization functions
  4. Test access control on plugin functionality
    Use a low-privilege test account (subscriber level) to access suspected sensitive URLs or trigger plugin shortcodes observed in source code
    Affected if Low-privilege users can perform actions or access data that should require administrator privileges
  5. Check user role capability enforcement
    Grep plugin PHP files for current_user_can(), is_user_logged_in(), wp_get_current_user(), or check_ajax_referer functions to verify authorization exists on sensitive operations
    Affected if Plugin files contain sensitive operations (database writes, settings changes, content access) without capability checks

The site is affected if the WP Journal plugin is installed and lacks proper capability checks on sensitive functions, allowing unauthorized access by low-privilege users

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

Implement proper authorization checks on all sensitive functions and endpoints, ensuring users can only access resources and perform actions appropriate to their privilege level.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2025-23613 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