CVE-2025-48247 in Shortlinks by Pretty Links Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/19/2025
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Blair Williams Shortlinks by Pretty Links allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels. This issue affects Shortlinks by Pretty Links: from n/a through 3.6.15.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/19/2025
The vulnerability CVE-2025-48247 represents a critical missing authorization flaw within the Blair Williams Shortlinks plugin for WordPress, specifically impacting versions ranging from an unspecified starting point through 3.6.15. This security weakness stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels that fail to properly validate user permissions before granting access to sensitive administrative functions. The vulnerability manifests when the plugin does not adequately enforce authorization checks, allowing unauthorized users to perform actions they should not be permitted to execute within the plugin's administrative interface. Such a misconfiguration creates a pathway for attackers to bypass normal security controls and gain elevated privileges or access to restricted functionality.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability falls under CWE-863, which describes incorrect authorization conditions where a system fails to properly verify that an actor is authorized to perform a requested operation. This flaw operates at the application level within the WordPress ecosystem, specifically targeting the plugin's access control mechanisms. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that it affects the core administrative functionality of the shortlinks plugin, potentially enabling attackers to manipulate URL redirections, modify link configurations, or access sensitive data. The absence of proper authorization checks means that any authenticated user, regardless of their role or permissions, could potentially exploit this weakness to perform administrative actions.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for WordPress sites utilizing the affected plugin, as it undermines the fundamental security model of role-based access control that WordPress employs. Attackers could leverage this flaw to gain unauthorized access to the plugin's administrative interface, potentially leading to link manipulation, content injection, or even complete compromise of the site's redirection capabilities. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple versions suggests a systemic issue within the plugin's access control implementation that has not been adequately addressed through the affected release cycle. This makes the impact more widespread and concerning for administrators who may not be aware of the specific version requirements for protection.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of the affected plugin to the latest version that contains proper authorization controls. Administrators should also implement additional monitoring of plugin access logs to detect unauthorized access attempts and consider restricting access to the plugin's administrative interface through additional security measures such as IP whitelisting or two-factor authentication. The vulnerability's classification as missing authorization aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation through improper access control mechanisms. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive security assessments of their WordPress installations to identify similar authorization flaws in other plugins or themes, as this type of vulnerability often indicates broader security misconfigurations that could affect the overall system integrity.