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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2025-8218

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-19
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 Real Spaces - WordPress Properties Directory Theme theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via the 'change_role_member' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 3.5. This is due to a lack of restriction in the profile update role. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to arbitrarily choose their role, including the Administrator role, during a profile update.

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 Real Spaces WordPress theme up to version 3.5 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in its profile update functionality. The 'change_role_member' parameter lacks server-side authorization checks, allowing unauthenticated attackers to specify any role including Administrator during profile registration or update operations.

MitigationUpdate the Real Spaces theme to version 3.6 or later. Additionally, audit existing user accounts for unauthorized administrative accounts created since the vulnerability disclosure.

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. Identify the installed Real Spaces theme version
    In WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Themes and locate the Real Spaces theme to view its version. Alternatively, check the style.css file in the theme directory for the 'Version' header.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.5 or lower (versions through 3.5 are affected).
  2. Determine if user registration is enabled
    Check WordPress Settings > General for 'Membership - Anyone can register' and verify if the Real Spaces theme's custom registration or profile update functionality is active on the site.
    Affected if User registration or the theme's profile update feature is enabled and the theme version is 3.5 or lower.
  3. Audit WordPress user accounts for unauthorized administrative roles
    Navigate to Users > All Users in the WordPress admin panel and review all accounts with the Administrator role. Verify that all admin accounts were created intentionally by legitimate administrators.
    Affected if There are administrative accounts that were not created by known, authorized administrators, indicating potential exploitation.
  4. Review server access logs for suspicious profile update requests
    Examine web server access logs (Apache, Nginx) for POST requests to registration or profile update endpoints containing the parameter 'change_role_member' with role values such as 'administrator'.
    Affected if Such requests are found in the logs targeting the affected site running version 3.5 or lower.

A user is affected if the Real Spaces theme version is 3.5 or lower AND user registration or profile update functionality is enabled, or if unauthorized admin accounts exist in the WordPress installation.

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 the Real Spaces theme to version 3.6 or later. Additionally, audit existing user accounts for unauthorized administrative accounts created since the vulnerability disclosure.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Real Spaces theme version 3.6 or later

  1. Upgrade the Real Spaces theme to version 3.6 or later, as this version addresses the privilege escalation vulnerability
  2. After upgrading, verify that the 'change_role_member' parameter is no longer accessible to unauthenticated users
  3. Review existing user accounts to ensure no unauthorized administrator accounts were created
  4. Consider implementing additional server-side validation for any role-related parameters
  5. Test profile update functionality to ensure normal role assignment still works for legitimate users

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
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2025-8218 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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