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Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-53214

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-11-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in sertifier Sertifier Certificate & Badge Maker sertifier-certificates-open-badges allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Sertifier Certificate & Badge Maker: from n/a through <= 1.21.

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

This is a Missing Authorization (broken access control) vulnerability in the Sertifier Certificate & Badge Maker WordPress plugin. The issue stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels that allow authenticated users to potentially access resources or perform actions beyond their intended authorization scope. An attacker with any level of authenticated access could exploit improperly configured authorization checks to perform operations reserved for higher-privileged users.

MitigationImplement proper authorization checks across all sensitive functions and endpoints, ensuring that user permissions are validated before allowing access to any protected resource or action. Conduct a thorough access control audit to identify and remediate all instances of missing or incorrect authorization logic.

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Identify Sertifier plugin installation and version
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, locate 'Sertifier Certificate & Badge Maker', and record the version number displayed. Alternatively, check the plugin's main PHP file header for the 'Version' tag.
    Affected if The installed version matches any version of the Sertifier plugin that contains the broken access control flaw (the vulnerability exists when any authenticated user can access admin-level functions).
  2. Verify presence of authenticated user accounts
    Check WordPress Users panel to confirm that users with low privilege levels (Subscriber, Contributor, or any custom role below Administrator) exist on the site.
    Affected if At least one user account with limited privileges (Subscriber, Contributor, or similar) exists, as the flaw allows any authenticated user to bypass authorization checks.
  3. Inspect plugin endpoint accessibility
    Using a browser or HTTP tool, attempt to access common Sertifier plugin admin actions (such as plugin settings pages, export functions, or certificate generation endpoints) while logged in as a low-privilege user. Inspect the response for success versus access denied.
    Affected if Low-privilege authenticated users receive successful (200 OK) responses when accessing functions or pages intended for administrators, indicating missing authorization checks.
  4. Review plugin code for authorization logic
    If file access is available, examine the main plugin PHP file (usually in wp-content/plugins/sertifier) for function calls that handle admin actions. Search for capability checks (current_user_can) or nonce verifications around sensitive operations.
    Affected if Sensitive functions lack capability checks (like current_user_can('manage_options')) or proper authorization validation before executing privileged actions.

A site is affected if the Sertifier plugin is installed and allows any authenticated user with limited privileges to access or execute administrative functions without proper authorization validation.

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

Implement proper authorization checks across all sensitive functions and endpoints, ensuring that user permissions are validated before allowing access to any protected resource or action. Conduct a thorough access control audit to identify and remediate all instances of missing or incorrect authorization logic.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,580
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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-2025-53214 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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