dbcve.org
Improper AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-285

CVE-2025-4521

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 IDonate – Blood Donation, Request And Donor Management System plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation due to a missing capability check on the idonate_donor_profile() function in versions 2.1.5 to 2.1.9. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to hijack any account by reassigning its email address (via the donor_id they supply) and then triggering a password reset, ultimately granting themselves full administrator privileges.

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 IDonate WordPress plugin versions 2.1.5-2.1.9 lacks a capability check in the idonate_donor_profile() function, allowing authenticated subscribers to reassign any user's email address and trigger password resets to hijack administrator accounts.

MitigationUpdate to the latest plugin version once patched, or add a capability check (e.g., manage_options) to the idonate_donor_profile() function and restrict email reassignment to administrative users only.

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 checks

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

  1. Verify IDonate plugin installation and version
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins, locate IDonate plugin, and note the installed version number. Alternatively, check the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/idonate/plugin.php for 'Version:' field.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.1.8, or 2.1.9.
  2. Locate the vulnerable function
    Open the plugin file containing idonate_donor_profile() function, typically in includes or core plugin files. Search for 'function idonate_donor_profile'.
    Affected if The function exists in the installed plugin version.
  3. Inspect for missing capability check
    Examine the idonate_donor_profile() function body. Look for a call to current_user_can() with an administrative capability (such as 'manage_options') before any email or donor ID modification logic.
    Affected if The function lacks a current_user_can() check or only checks for a low-privilege capability (like 'read') before allowing email reassignment.
  4. Identify exploitable user roles
    In WordPress admin > Users, review the list of registered users and their assigned roles. Note any users with 'Subscriber' role.
    Affected if There is at least one user account with Subscriber role, as this role level can exploit the vulnerability.

You are affected if IDonate plugin versions 2.1.5-2.1.9 are installed, the idonate_donor_profile() function lacks a capability check like current_user_can('manage_options'), and at least one Subscriber-level user account exists in WordPress.

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 to the latest plugin version once patched, or add a capability check (e.g., manage_options) to the idonate_donor_profile() function and restrict email reassignment to administrative users only.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

2.2.0 or later

  1. 1. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate the IDonate plugin
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now'
  5. 5. Verify the updated version is 2.2.0 or later
  6. 6. Test that donor profile functionality works correctly after update

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-4521 — 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-2025-4521 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