Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-24642

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in theme funda Setup Default Featured Image setup-default-feature-image allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Setup Default Featured Image: from n/a through <= 1.2.

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 Setup Default Featured Image WordPress plugin (versions <= 1.2) lacks proper authorization checks on its settings functionality, allowing authenticated users with low-level privileges (e.g., subscribers) to modify plugin settings they should not have access to. This missing authorization vulnerability enables privilege escalation through incorrectly configured access controls.

MitigationImplement WordPress capability checks (e.g., 'manage_options' capabilty) and nonce verification on all admin action functions to ensure only authorized administrators can modify plugin settings.

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
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify plugin installation and version
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, locate 'Setup Default Featured Image' plugin, and note the version number displayed
    Affected if The plugin is installed and the version is 1.2 or lower
  2. Confirm existence of low-privilege user accounts
    Go to Users > All Users in WordPress admin and check if any users with 'Subscriber' role exist
    Affected if At least one user with Subscriber or other low-level role (Contributor, Author) exists on the site
  3. Inspect plugin settings page access controls
    Attempt to access the plugin settings page (usually under Settings or a dedicated menu item) while logged in as a low-privilege user (Subscriber level). Observe whether access is granted or denied
    Affected if A user with Subscriber-level privileges can access and modify plugin settings without being redirected or denied
  4. Review plugin source code for capability checks
    If you have file access, locate the plugin directory (wp-content/plugins/setup-default-featured-image/) and examine PHP files for capability checks (search for 'manage_options', 'current_user_can', 'capability') around settings modification functions
    Affected if Plugin code lacks capability checks (e.g., current_user_can('manage_options')) before allowing settings changes

Your environment is affected if the Setup Default Featured Image plugin version 1.2 or lower is installed AND your site has low-privilege users (like Subscribers) who can access and modify plugin settings without proper authorization.

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

Implement WordPress capability checks (e.g., 'manage_options' capabilty) and nonce verification on all admin action functions to ensure only authorized administrators can modify plugin settings.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

latest available version (version 1.3 or later)

  1. Update the 'Setup Default Featured Image' plugin to the latest available version from the WordPress plugin repository
  2. Verify the update was successfully applied by checking the plugin version in WordPress admin

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-24642 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
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