CVE-2025-48165
8.8DELUCKS · DELUCKS SEO
A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the DELUCKS SEO WordPress plugin due to an incorrect privilege assignment flaw.
Executive summary
The DELUCKS SEO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to a privilege escalation flaw that allows authenticated users to gain unauthorized administrative access.
Vulnerability
The vulnerability is categorized as an Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266). It allows an authenticated user with low privileges to escalate their permissions to administrative levels within the application.
Business impact
The ability for a low privileged user to escalate to administrative status poses a severe risk to organizational security. An attacker achieving this could gain full control over the website, leading to unauthorized data exfiltration, site defacement, or the injection of malicious content. With a CVSS score of 8.8, this vulnerability is classified as High and requires immediate attention to prevent total system compromise.
Remediation
Immediate Action: Review the official vendor advisory for the availability of a security update and apply it immediately upon release. If a patch is not yet available, restrict access to the plugin or deactivate it until a secure version is deployed.
Proactive Monitoring: Monitor WordPress user management logs for unexpected changes in user roles or the creation of new administrative accounts. Audit existing user permissions to ensure that no accounts have been granted excessive privileges.
Compensating Controls: Deploy a Web Application Firewall with rules configured to detect and block suspicious requests targeting plugin-specific administrative functions. Implement the principle of least privilege by strictly limiting the number of users with administrative access.
Exploitation status
Public Exploit Available: No
Analyst recommendation
Given the High severity of this privilege escalation flaw, administrators must prioritize the security of their WordPress environments. Check for plugin updates daily and ensure that the DELUCKS SEO plugin is removed or updated as soon as the vendor provides a remediation path. Failure to address this vulnerability could lead to a complete takeover of the affected web application.
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Sources
Originally found and disclosed by Martino Spagnuolo (r3verii) | Patchstack Bug Bounty Program, per the CVE Program record.