Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-63069

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Vinod Dalvi Ivory Search add-search-to-menu allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Ivory Search: from n/a through <= 5.5.12.

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

Missing authorization in the Ivory Search WordPress plugin's add-search-to-menu functionality allows unauthenticated or lower-privileged users to perform actions that should require higher-level capabilities, exploiting incorrectly configured access control security levels.

MitigationUpdate Ivory Search to the latest version which should contain proper capability/authorization checks, or add current_user_can() verification to all menu-related functions and AJAX endpoints in the plugin.

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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. Confirm Ivory Search plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate Ivory Search, or check the plugins directory for the ivory-search folder and read its main PHP file for the version number
    Affected if The plugin is present and active on the WordPress site
  2. Identify the installed Ivory Search version
    Check the plugin file header in ivory-search/ivory-search.php for the 'Version' field, or view the plugin in the WordPress plugins list which displays the version
    Affected if The version is within the affected range (prior to the fix containing proper capability checks)
  3. Verify add-search-to-menu functionality is in use
    Check if any WordPress menu contains an Ivory Search search form element: go to Appearance > Menus and inspect each menu for an 'Add Search' item or ivory-search shortcode integration
    Affected if The add-search-to-menu feature is enabled or the plugin has created search menu items
  4. Confirm WordPress user registration is open or low-privileged users exist
    In WordPress admin under Settings > General, check if 'Anyone can register' is enabled, or review existing user roles to see if subscriber-level accounts exist
    Affected if The site allows new user registration (any role) or has existing low-privilege users
  5. Test for exposed AJAX endpoints without capability checks
    Inspect the ivory-search plugin AJAX handlers (typically in ajax.php or within the main plugin file) and look for menu-related actions that lack current_user_can() verification before processing requests
    Affected if AJAX endpoints for menu operations accept requests without verifying user capabilities

A user is affected if Ivory Search is installed with a vulnerable version, the add-search-to-menu feature is active, and the site has unauthenticated access or low-privilege users who could exploit missing authorization checks on menu-related functions.

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 Ivory Search to the latest version which should contain proper capability/authorization checks, or add current_user_can() verification to all menu-related functions and AJAX endpoints in the plugin.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-63069 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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