CVE-2025-7956
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 · uneditedThe Ajax Search Lite plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Basic Information Exposure due to missing authorization in its AJAX search handler in all versions up to, and including, 4.13.1. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to issue repeated AJAX requests to leak the content of any protected post in rolling 100‑character windows.
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 Ajax Search Lite WordPress plugin has a missing authorization check in its AJAX search handler (versions up to 4.13.1), allowing unauthenticated attackers to submit AJAX requests that bypass access controls and leak protected post content in rolling 100-character windows.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Ajax Search Lite plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Ajax Search Lite' in the list. Note whether it is active or inactive.Affected if The plugin is active and the version is 4.13.1 or earlier
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Identify the installed plugin versionClick 'View details' on the Ajax Search Lite plugin in the WordPress plugins list, or check the plugin's main PHP file (usually in wp-content/plugins/ajax-search-lite/) for the version comment header.Affected if Version is 4.13.1 or any version up to and including 4.13.1
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Verify protected posts existIn WordPress admin, go to Posts > All Posts and look for posts with 'Private' visibility status, or check if any post types with restricted access are present.Affected if The site contains private or password-protected posts that could be exposed
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Test unauthenticated search accessSend a direct AJAX request to the site's admin-ajax.php with a search action (such as 'ajax_searchlite_search' or similar) using a web browser or curl tool while NOT logged in, submitting a query that might match protected content.Affected if The AJAX endpoint responds to unauthenticated requests and returns content that should be restricted
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Check search configuration for access controlsIn WordPress admin, navigate to Ajax Search Lite > Settings and check if any options restrict search results based on user capability or post visibility.Affected if No authorization controls are configured, or the search is set to index/include protected content
A site is affected if it runs Ajax Search Lite version 4.13.1 or earlier, has the plugin active, and contains private or protected posts that could be leaked through unauthenticated AJAX search queries.
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 Ajax Search Lite to version 4.13.2 or later to include proper authorization checks. Verify that protected posts are no longer accessible via search queries.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,512.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-7956 — 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-2025-7956 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