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Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-31603

MEDIUM · 5.4 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 →
60/100
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 moshensky CF7 Spreadsheets cf7-spreadsheets allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects CF7 Spreadsheets: from n/a through <= 2.3.2.

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

This is a missing authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in the CF7 Spreadsheets WordPress plugin. The plugin fails to properly verify user permissions before allowing access to certain functionality, enabling lower-privileged or unauthenticated users to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels to perform actions beyond their intended permissions.

MitigationImplement proper capability checks and authorization validation on all sensitive functions and AJAX endpoints within the plugin, ensuring that only users with appropriate privileges can access spreadsheet data and export functionality.

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 checks

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

  1. Confirm CF7 Spreadsheets plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins and locate the CF7 Spreadsheets plugin in the list of installed plugins
    Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Identify installed plugin version
    In the Plugins list, view the plugin details or check the plugin header in /wp-content/plugins/cf7-spreadsheets/ folder for the version number
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or falls within an affected range if such a range becomes known
  3. Verify AJAX endpoint access controls
    Use browser developer tools or a HTTP client to test whether AJAX actions related to spreadsheet exports (such as cf7_spreadsheet_export or similar) respond to requests from low-privilege users (subscriber level) or unauthenticated requests
    Affected if The endpoints return successful data or acknowledge the request instead of returning an authorization error
  4. Inspect user role configuration
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Users > Roles or use a role management plugin to examine if subscriber, contributor, or author roles have been granted unusual capabilities related to spreadsheet, export, or cf7 administration
    Affected if Lower-privileged roles possess capabilities beyond their standard WordPress permissions, particularly any export or spreadsheet-related capabilities
  5. Test spreadsheet data access
    Log in as a low-privilege user (subscriber) or use an unauthenticated browser session to attempt access to any spreadsheet export or download URLs provided by the plugin
    Affected if The export or download completes successfully without prompting for higher-level authentication
  6. Review plugin settings for authorization
    Check the plugin settings page at Plugins > CF7 Spreadsheets Settings (or similar) for any access control, role restriction, or capability configuration options
    Affected if No access control options exist, or the configured restrictions allow broad access

The environment is likely affected if low-privileged users or unauthenticated requests can successfully access or trigger spreadsheet export functionality via AJAX endpoints or direct URLs.

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 capability checks and authorization validation on all sensitive functions and AJAX endpoints within the plugin, ensuring that only users with appropriate privileges can access spreadsheet data and export functionality.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2025-31603 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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