CVE-2025-53421
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 PickPlugins Accordion accordions allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Accordion: from n/a through <= 2.3.14.
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 PickPlugins Accordion WordPress plugin (versions <= 2.3.14) contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. This authorization bypass likely enables unauthenticated or under-privileged users to access administrative functions or modify plugin settings that should require higher privileges.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate PickPlugins Accordion plugin and identify versionAccess WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find 'PickPlugins Accordion' or 'Accordion' by PickPlugins, and note the version number displayed. Alternatively, check the plugin's main PHP file header in wp-content/plugins/accordion/ for the Version field.Affected if Plugin version is 2.3.14 or lower
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Verify WordPress user role access to plugin admin pagesAs a low-privilege user (e.g., Subscriber), attempt to access the plugin's admin settings page at /wp-admin/admin.php?page=accordion-settings or similar PickPlugins admin URLs. Check if the page loads without requiring administrator privileges.Affected if Non-administrator users can access plugin administrative functions without proper capability checks
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Test plugin AJAX actions for authorization bypassInspect plugin PHP files (particularly in accordion/includes/ or accordion/free/ directories) for AJAX handlers registered with add_action('wp_ajax_...') or add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_...'). Review these handlers to see if they perform sensitive operations (settings changes, data modification) without using current_user_can() or capability checks.Affected if AJAX endpoints handle sensitive operations without verifying user capabilities, especially if wp_ajax_nopriv_ is allowed
Environment is affected if the PickPlugins Accordion plugin version is 2.3.14 or lower AND sensitive plugin functions/endpoints are accessible without proper WordPress capability verification.
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 Accordion plugin to the latest version beyond 2.3.14 to obtain the vendor patch, or review and add proper capability checks and access control validation to all sensitive plugin functions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $2,848.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-53421 — 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-2025-53421 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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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.
- 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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