CVE-2025-7722 in Social Streams Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/23/2025
The Social Streams plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.1. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their user meta information in the update_user_meta() function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to change their user type to that of an administrator.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/23/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-7722 affects the Social Streams plugin for WordPress, representing a critical privilege escalation flaw that undermines the platform's core security model. This vulnerability exists within all versions up to and including 1.0.1, making it a widespread concern for WordPress installations that utilize this plugin. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the plugin's codebase, specifically in how user identities are verified before critical administrative operations are executed. The vulnerability manifests when authenticated users with Subscriber-level access or higher attempt to manipulate their user meta information through the update_user_meta() function, which should normally be restricted to authorized administrative processes.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits a fundamental weakness in the plugin's access control validation system. When an attacker with subscriber privileges attempts to modify their user meta data, the plugin fails to properly authenticate the user's elevated permissions or verify that the requested privilege change aligns with the user's actual role within the WordPress access control hierarchy. This represents a classic case of insufficient authorization checks, where the update_user_meta() function does not perform adequate verification of the requesting user's credentials or role membership before executing the privilege modification. The flaw allows for arbitrary user role manipulation, enabling attackers to elevate their privileges from subscriber to administrator level without proper authorization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching within WordPress environments. An authenticated attacker with subscriber-level access can leverage this flaw to gain complete administrative control over the affected WordPress installation. This privilege escalation enables the attacker to modify core system settings, install malicious plugins, modify or delete content, access sensitive user data, and potentially use the compromised administrative account as a foothold for further attacks within the network. The vulnerability essentially provides a backdoor mechanism that bypasses WordPress's standard user role management and access control systems, creating a persistent security risk that can be exploited repeatedly by any user who has gained subscriber-level access to the platform.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-285 (Improper Authorization) and represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege. The flaw also maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 (Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts) and T1548.001 (Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Setuid and Setgid) as it allows for unauthorized privilege escalation through legitimate user accounts. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including plugin version updates, disabling the affected plugin until patches are applied, and implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized user role changes. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of proper input validation and access control verification in WordPress plugins, particularly those handling user meta data operations. Regular security audits of third-party plugins and maintaining updated WordPress core installations remain essential defensive measures against similar privilege escalation vulnerabilities.