dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-3766

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-07
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
The Login Lockdown & Protection plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized nonce access due to a missing capability check on the ajax_run_tool function in all versions up to, and including, 2.11. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to obtain a valid nonce that can be used to generate a global unlock key, which can in turn be used to add arbitrary IP address to the plugin allowlist. This can only by exploited on new installations where the site administrator hasn't visited the loginlockdown page yet.

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 · high confidence

The Login Lockdown & Protection WordPress plugin lacks a capability check on its ajax_run_tool function, allowing authenticated users with Subscriber-level permissions to obtain a valid nonce. This nonce can be weaponized to generate a global unlock key and add arbitrary IP addresses to the plugin's allowlist. The vulnerability only affects fresh installations where the administrator has not yet accessed the loginlockdown admin page.

MitigationUpdate the Login Lockdown & Protection plugin to version 2.12 or later to patch the missing capability check. Until then, ensure no untrusted users have Subscriber-level access and consider manually initializing the plugin by visiting its admin page.

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
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 plugin is installed
    Check if the Login Lockdown & Protection plugin is present in your WordPress installation by reviewing the plugins list in wp-admin or inspecting the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder containing 'login-lockdown' or similar.
    Affected if The plugin is installed and active in WordPress.
  2. Identify plugin version
    Access the Plugins page in WordPress admin, find Login Lockdown & Protection, and note the version number displayed, or read the main plugin PHP file header for the Version field.
    Affected if The installed version is below 2.12 (the patch was released in version 2.12).
  3. Determine if this is a fresh installation
    Check whether the plugin has been fully initialized by an administrator. Inspect the wp_options table for option_name values related to loginlockdown settings (such as loginlockdown_global_unkey or similar configuration records). If no such options exist, the plugin has not been accessed by an admin.
    Affected if No loginlockdown-related options exist in the wp_options table, indicating the admin has not yet visited the plugin's admin page.
  4. Review user roles with Subscriber access
    Navigate to Users > All Users in WordPress admin and identify any accounts assigned the Subscriber role, or query the wp_usermeta table for users with wp_capabilities containing 'subscriber'.
    Affected if There are user accounts with Subscriber-level permissions present in the system.

You are affected if the Login Lockdown & Protection plugin below version 2.12 is installed on a fresh installation where the admin has not yet accessed the plugin settings, and untrusted Subscriber-level users exist on the site.

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 the Login Lockdown & Protection plugin to version 2.12 or later to patch the missing capability check. Until then, ensure no untrusted users have Subscriber-level access and consider manually initializing the plugin by visiting its admin page.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version 2.12 or higher of Login Lockdown & Protection plugin

  1. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Find the 'Login Lockdown & Protection' plugin
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually upload version 2.12 or higher from the WordPress plugin repository
  5. After updating, visit the Login Lockdown settings page in the admin panel to ensure proper initialization
Caveat Minimal risk - this is a security patch update for an authorization bypass; no breaking functionality changes expected

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-3766 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-3766 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data