CVE-2025-3609 in Reales WP STPT Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/06/2025
The Reales WP STPT plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized user registration in all versions up to, and including, 2.1.2. This is due to the 'reales_user_signup_form' AJAX action not verifying if user registration is enabled, prior to registering a user. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create new user accounts, which can be leveraged with CVE-XX to achieve privilege escalation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/06/2025
The Reales WP STPT plugin for WordPress presents a critical security vulnerability that undermines the platform's user authentication mechanisms through improper access control implementation. This weakness exists within the plugin's AJAX handling system where the 'reales_user_signup_form' action fails to validate whether user registration is permitted before proceeding with account creation. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 2.1.2, indicating a persistent flaw that has remained unaddressed across multiple releases, suggesting inadequate security testing during development cycles.
The technical implementation flaw stems from the absence of proper authentication checks within the AJAX endpoint responsible for user registration. When an attacker sends a malicious request to this endpoint, the system processes the registration without verifying the plugin's configuration settings or user permissions. This represents a classic bypass of access control validation mechanisms and aligns with CWE-639 - Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key, where the application fails to properly validate that the requesting entity has authorization to perform the requested action. The vulnerability exists at the application logic level rather than in cryptographic implementations or network protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized account creation, as it provides a potential pathway for privilege escalation attacks. An unauthenticated attacker can leverage this flaw to register new user accounts with arbitrary credentials, potentially creating accounts with elevated privileges if the system configuration allows for such automatic privilege assignment. This weakness creates opportunities for attackers to establish persistent access points within the WordPress environment while bypassing normal registration restrictions that would typically require administrator approval or valid user credentials.
Security practitioners should implement immediate mitigations including disabling the affected AJAX endpoint when user registration is not required, implementing proper authentication checks before processing user signup requests, and ensuring all plugin components verify appropriate authorization contexts. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive security assessments of their WordPress installations to identify similar access control bypass vulnerabilities across other plugins and themes. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of validating all user inputs and access controls within AJAX endpoints as specified by ATT&CK technique T1078.004 - Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts, where attackers can exploit weak access controls to establish unauthorized access to systems. Regular security updates and proper security testing during development phases are essential to prevent such persistent flaws from affecting production environments.