CVE-2025-39533
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 · uneditedMissing Authorization vulnerability in Starfish Reviews Starfish Review Generation & Marketing starfish-reviews allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Starfish Review Generation & Marketing: from n/a through <= 3.1.19.
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 confidenceThe starfish-reviews WordPress plugin versions through 3.1.19 lack proper authorization checks on certain functions, allowing authenticated users (with low-level permissions) to perform actions reserved for administrators, resulting in privilege escalation.
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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check the Starfish Reviews plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Starfish Review Generation & Marketing' or 'starfish-reviews'. The version number is displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, check the plugin's main PHP file for a 'Version' header comment.Affected if The installed version is 3.1.19 or earlier.
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Verify user roles with access to the pluginGo to Users > All Users in WordPress admin. Review which users have roles other than Administrator (e.g., Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber). Check if any of these roles have been granted explicit access to the starfish-reviews plugin functionality.Affected if There are non-administrator user accounts that can access the plugin or its admin menu items.
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Inspect the plugin capabilitiesIf you have database access, query the wp_options table for option_name values related to starfish_reviews, or inspect the plugin's role capability definitions in its code. Look for any custom capability grants to non-admin roles.Affected if The plugin grants administrative capabilities or special functions to user roles below Administrator level.
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Test authorization on plugin functionsLog in as a low-privilege user (e.g., Editor) and attempt to access any starfish-reviews admin pages, settings, or action endpoints visible in the WordPress admin menu. Observe if access is granted without permission errors.Affected if Low-privilege authenticated users can access plugin administrative functions intended only for administrators.
A user is affected if the Starfish Reviews plugin version is 3.1.19 or earlier AND non-administrator accounts can access or execute plugin administrative functions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate the Starfish Review Generation & Marketing plugin to a version newer than 3.1.19. If no update is available, restrict plugin access to administrator accounts only until a patch is released.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-39533 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-39533 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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