Improper AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-285

CVE-2025-3921

HIGH · 8.2 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 →
91/100
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
The PeproDev Ultimate Profile Solutions plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the handel_ajax_req() function in versions 1.9.1 to 7.5.2. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to update arbitrary user's metadata which can be leveraged to block an administrator from accessing their site when wp_capabilities is set to 0.

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 PeproDev Ultimate Profile Solutions WordPress plugin has a missing capability check in the handel_ajax_req() function, allowing unauthenticated attackers to update arbitrary user metadata. Attackers can set wp_capabilities to 0 for any user, effectively revoking administrator privileges and blocking site access.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to version 7.5.3 or later to patch the vulnerability. If the site has already been compromised, restore from a clean backup and reset all admin passwords.

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
High
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 plugin installation
    Check if PeproDev Ultimate Profile Solutions plugin is installed on the WordPress site by looking in wp-content/plugins/ for a folder containing 'ultimate-profile' or 'peprodev' in the name, or query the wp_options table for the active_plugins option
    Affected if Plugin folder or database entry exists and the plugin is active
  2. Determine installed version
    Read the main plugin PHP file header for the 'Version' field, or check the plugins API/WordPress admin plugins list
    Affected if Version number is present and less than 7.5.3 (e.g., 7.5.2, 7.5.1, 7.5.0, or any version below 7.5.3)
  3. Locate vulnerable function
    Search the plugin files for the function named handel_ajax_req (note the spelling with single 'l')
    Affected if The function handel_ajax_req exists in the plugin code
  4. Verify unauthenticated AJAX hook registration
    Search plugin files for add_action('wp_ajax_pepro_ajax' or similar AJAX hooks, and verify there is no current_user_can capability check before user metadata modification
    Affected if A wp_ajax action is hooked without a capability check, allowing unauthenticated access to user metadata updates
  5. Check for compromised admin accounts
    Query the wp_usermeta table for any users with wp_capabilities set to 0, or verify admin users can still log in
    Affected if Any administrator account has wp_capabilities set to 0 or cannot authenticate as an administrator

The environment is affected if the PeproDev Ultimate Profile Solutions plugin is installed with a version lower than 7.5.3 and the handel_ajax_req function is present with unauthenticated AJAX access.

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

Update the plugin to version 7.5.3 or later to patch the vulnerability. If the site has already been compromised, restore from a clean backup and reset all admin passwords.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-3921 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-3921 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data