CVE-2025-12752 in Subscriptions & Memberships for PayPal Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/22/2025
The Subscriptions & Memberships for PayPal plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to fake payment creation in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.7. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying the authenticity of an IPN request. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create fake payment entries that have not actually occurred.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/22/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-12752 affects the Subscriptions & Memberships for PayPal plugin version 1.1.7 and earlier, presenting a critical security risk within WordPress environments. This plugin serves as a bridge between WordPress websites and PayPal payment processing, enabling subscription management and membership functionalities for online businesses. The flaw resides in the plugin's handling of Instant Payment Notification (IPN) requests from PayPal, which are crucial for confirming payment transactions and maintaining accurate financial records within the WordPress site.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authentication mechanisms within the plugin's IPN processing code. Specifically, the plugin fails to properly verify the authenticity of incoming IPN requests from PayPal's servers, leaving a critical gap that allows malicious actors to forge payment notifications. This weakness directly maps to CWE-284, which addresses inadequate access control mechanisms, and represents a significant failure in implementing proper cryptographic verification or request authentication. The vulnerability essentially allows attackers to bypass the normal payment verification process that should occur between PayPal's servers and the WordPress plugin.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted for affected WordPress sites. Unauthenticated attackers can create fraudulent payment entries that appear legitimate within the plugin's database, potentially leading to unauthorized access to premium content, false subscription renewals, and financial discrepancies. This could result in significant revenue loss for businesses relying on the plugin for membership management, as well as damage to customer trust and business reputation. The vulnerability also creates a persistent threat vector where attackers can repeatedly generate fake transactions, making it difficult for site administrators to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent payments.
This vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1078 Valid Accounts for initial access and T1566 Impersonation for maintaining persistent fraudulent activities. The attack surface is particularly concerning for e-commerce sites and membership-based platforms that depend on accurate payment tracking. Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest plugin version, implementing additional verification layers, and monitoring for suspicious transaction patterns. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper IPN verification in payment processing systems and highlights the need for robust authentication mechanisms in third-party WordPress plugins. Security teams should also consider implementing network-level monitoring to detect unusual IPN traffic patterns and establish automated alerts for suspicious payment activities.
The broader implications extend beyond immediate financial loss to include potential compliance violations and increased liability for businesses handling customer payment information. Organizations using this plugin should conduct comprehensive security audits of their payment processing workflows and consider implementing additional fraud detection measures. The vulnerability underscores the necessity of maintaining up-to-date third-party software and implementing proper security controls for payment integration points within WordPress environments.