dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-31386

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
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 simplepress Simple:Press simplepress allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Simple:Press: from n/a through <= 6.11.5.

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

Missing authorization vulnerability in Simple:Press plugin allows authenticated or unauthenticated attackers to bypass incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially accessing functionality or data beyond their intended permission scope.

MitigationImplement proper authorization checks on all sensitive endpoints and verify access control security levels are correctly configured; update to patched version when available.

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
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Simple:Press plugin is installed
    Access the WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, or inspect the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for the simple-press folder. Identify the installed version number from the plugin metadata.
    Affected if Simple:Press plugin is present and the version cannot be verified as patched or is unknown
  2. Verify access control security level configuration
    Navigate to Simple:Press > Permissions or Security settings in the WordPress admin panel. Review the configured Access Control Security Levels for each user role (forum user, moderator, administrator). Check if any roles are assigned overly permissive security levels that may allow unintended access.
    Affected if Access control security levels are set to allow guests or unauthenticated users to access administrative or elevated functions, or if security levels are inconsistently applied across user roles
  3. Test sensitive endpoint access
    Identify key Simple:Press endpoints such as those handling forum moderation, user management, or data export. Attempt to access these endpoints using an unauthenticated browser session or a low-privilege user account. Use browser developer tools or curl to send requests to endpoints like /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=sp... or direct forum API routes.
    Affected if Sensitive endpoints return successful responses (200 OK) or expose data when accessed by unauthenticated users or users without proper role-based permissions
  4. Review user role capability mappings
    In WordPress admin, go to Simple:Press > Users > Role Mapping. Examine which WordPress capabilities are mapped to each forum role. Check if forum roles with limited permissions have been granted capabilities that should be restricted to higher privilege levels.
    Affected if Low-privilege forum roles (e.g., guest, new member) are mapped to capabilities that grant access to administrative or moderation functions
  5. Check for unauthorized data exposure
    Use a non-logged-in browser session or a fresh incognito window to browse the Simple:Press forum. Attempt to access pages or data that should typically require authentication, such as user profiles, private forums, or admin-only content areas.
    Affected if Content or functionality that should be restricted to authenticated or privileged users is accessible without authentication

A defender is affected if the Simple:Press plugin is installed and either the version is unknown/unguarded, or access control security levels permit unauthenticated or low-privilege users to reach sensitive endpoints or administrative functions.

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 endpoints and verify access control security levels are correctly configured; update to patched version when available.

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-2025-31386 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
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