Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2025-31918

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in quantumcloud Simple Business Directory Pro simple-business-directory-pro allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Simple Business Directory Pro: from n/a through < 15.6.9.

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 confidence

The Simple Business Directory Pro WordPress plugin versions before 15.6.9 contains an incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability that allows privilege escalation. This security flaw permits authenticated users (or potentially unauthenticated attackers) to gain elevated administrative access through improper capability or role validation within the plugin's functionality.

MitigationUpdate Simple Business Directory Pro to version 15.6.9 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, disable the plugin until an update can be applied, and review user role assignments for any unauthorized administrative accounts.

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Locate the Simple Business Directory Pro plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and find 'Simple Business Directory Pro' in the list. The version number is displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, check the plugin header in /wp-content/plugins/simple-business-directory/ or the main plugin file for the 'Version' constant.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 15.6.9 or the version cannot be determined (plugin may be outdated or corrupted).
  2. Confirm the plugin is actively installed
    Query the WordPress options table or check the plugin directory existence: look for the folder /wp-content/plugins/simple-business-directory/ and verify it contains the main plugin file (usually simple-business-directory.php).
    Affected if The plugin directory exists and contains plugin files, indicating it is installed.
  3. Review user accounts for unauthorized administrative access
    In WordPress admin, navigate to Users > All Users. Examine the list for any administrative accounts that were created unexpectedly or that you do not recognize. Pay attention to recently created accounts with the Administrator role.
    Affected if There are administrative user accounts that you did not create or that were added recently without your knowledge.
  4. Check for suspicious role changes on existing accounts
    If available, review WordPress audit logs, user activity logs, or the wp_usermeta table for recent changes to user_roles or capabilities meta values that show elevation from lower roles to administrator.
    Affected if User role changes to administrator occurred that were not initiated by an existing legitimate administrator.

You are affected if Simple Business Directory Pro is installed with a version lower than 15.6.9, or if unexpected administrator-level user accounts exist in your WordPress environment.

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

Update Simple Business Directory Pro to version 15.6.9 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, disable the plugin until an update can be applied, and review user role assignments for any unauthorized administrative accounts.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Simple Business Directory Pro version 15.6.9

  1. 1. Create a full backup of the WordPress site including database and files
  2. 2. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard
  3. 3. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  4. 4. Find Simple Business Directory Pro in the list
  5. 5. Click Update Now if an update is available, or manually upload version 15.6.9 of the plugin
  6. 6. Verify the plugin version shows 15.6.9 after updating
  7. 7. Test that the directory functionality works correctly

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-31918 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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