CVE-2025-23849
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 · uneditedMissing Authorization vulnerability in bpiwowar PAPERCITE papercite allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects PAPERCITE: from n/a through <= 0.5.18.
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 confidenceThe PAPERCITE WordPress plugin (versions <= 0.5.18) contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. This authorization bypass could permit unauthenticated or unauthorized users to access certain plugin functionality that should be restricted.
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
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
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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Identify if PAPERCITE plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins, or inspect the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'papercite' or similarAffected if The PAPERCITE plugin folder exists in the WordPress plugins directory
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Determine installed PAPERCITE versionCheck the plugin header in main PHP file (e.g., papercite.php) for 'Version:' value, or view version in WordPress Plugins admin pageAffected if The installed version number is 0.5.18 or lower, or if no version is displayed and the plugin appears outdated
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Verify plugin is active and accessibleConfirm the plugin status shows as 'Active' in WordPress admin, and the plugin handles bibliographic/reference functions that may be publicly accessibleAffected if The plugin is active and processes citation requests or bibliography generation without authentication requirements
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Test for exposed plugin endpointsExamine if plugin AJAX actions (admin-ajax.php?action=papercite_*) or direct PHP files in the plugin directory are accessible without login verificationAffected if Plugin functions can be triggered without requiring WordPress user authentication or authorization checks
A user is affected if PAPERCITE plugin version 0.5.18 or lower is installed and active, with plugin functionality accessible without proper authorization validation.
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 dataUpgrade PAPERCITE to the latest version which should contain proper authorization fixes, or implement explicit authorization checks around sensitive plugin functions if no update is available.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-23849 — 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-2025-23849 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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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.
- 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