CVE-2025-8900 in Doccure Core Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/03/2025
The Doccure Core plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and excluding, 1.5.4. This is due to the plugin allowing users who are registering new accounts to set their own role or by supplying 'user_type' field. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain elevated privileges by creating an account with the administrator role.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/03/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-8900 affects the Doccure Core plugin for WordPress, representing a critical privilege escalation flaw that undermines the security model of affected systems. This vulnerability exists within versions prior to 1.5.4, making a significant portion of WordPress installations potentially susceptible to exploitation. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and role assignment mechanisms within the plugin's user registration process, creating a pathway for malicious actors to bypass normal authentication procedures and assume administrative privileges.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate the user registration flow by directly controlling the user_type field during account creation. This field, when improperly validated, permits attackers to specify administrative roles for newly created accounts without proper authorization. The vulnerability specifically exploits the plugin's failure to implement proper access controls and role validation during the registration process, enabling unauthenticated users to submit malicious role assignments that are then accepted and processed by the system. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the principle of least privilege and demonstrates poor input sanitization practices that are commonly associated with privilege escalation vulnerabilities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account compromise, as successful exploitation grants attackers full administrative control over affected WordPress installations. This elevated privilege level allows attackers to modify core system files, install malicious plugins, access sensitive data, and potentially establish persistent backdoors within the compromised environment. The vulnerability's accessibility to unauthenticated attackers means that any user with access to the registration interface can exploit this flaw, making it particularly dangerous in environments where public registration is enabled. The implications for data integrity, system availability, and overall security posture are severe, as administrators lose control over their systems and sensitive information becomes exposed to unauthorized access.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching to version 1.5.4 or later, which addresses the improper role assignment validation within the plugin. System administrators should also implement additional security measures including disabling public user registration where possible, monitoring user registration activities for suspicious role assignments, and implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious registration attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-264, which covers permissions, privileges, and access control issues, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1543.003 for create or modify system process. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their WordPress environments to identify any other plugins with similar privilege escalation vulnerabilities and ensure comprehensive patch management processes are in place to address such issues promptly.