CVE-2025-30830
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 Hossni Mubarak Cool Author Box hm-cool-author-box-widget allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Cool Author Box: from n/a through <= 2.9.9.
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 confidenceMissing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress plugin 'Cool Author Box' (hm-cool-author-box-widget) allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. The plugin fails to properly validate user permissions before granting access to sensitive functionality, enabling unauthorized actions.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Cool Author Box plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Cool Author Box' or 'hm-cool-author-box-widget', or check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for the plugin folder.Affected if The plugin is present in the WordPress installation
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Identify installed plugin versionIn WordPress admin_plugins list, click on the plugin name to view details and version number, or open the main plugin PHP file and look for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block.Affected if Version is below 2.10.0 or version cannot be determined (unknown versions should be treated as potentially vulnerable)
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Confirm plugin is activeIn WordPress admin_plugins, verify the plugin shows as 'Active' under the status column.Affected if Plugin is active and version is below 2.10.0
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Check for unauthorized admin actionsReview WordPress activity logs, audit logs, or security logs for any unexpected changes to user roles, capabilities, or settings that occurred without legitimate admin authorization.Affected if Suspicious or unauthorized administrative actions are found in logs
The environment is affected if the Cool Author Box plugin is installed, active, and running a version lower than 2.10.0.
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 the patched version of Cool Author Box (version 2.10.0 or higher) when available. Until then, restrict admin access to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious activity.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-30830 — 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-2025-30830 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