Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability affects the WordPress DD Roles plugin up to version 4.1. A logged-in low-privileged user could gain higher privileges because the plugin assigns privileges incorrectly. Business risk includes site takeover, content changes, data exposure, and service disruption on WordPress sites using this plugin.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for public WordPress sites that allow user registration, customer accounts, contributor access, or shared editorial workflows. The issue can turn a low-privilege account into a broader compromise path.
Technical view
CVE-2025-23528 is a CWE-266 incorrect privilege assignment issue in Mosterd3d DD Roles for WordPress through 4.1. The CVSS 3.1 score is 8.8 with network access, low complexity, low privileges required, and no user interaction.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress installations with the DD Roles plugin installed at version 4.1 or earlier. The attacker is modeled as already having a low-privileged account on the site.
Exploitation context
The provided bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cite active exploitation. Treat this as a high-risk authenticated privilege escalation issue, not confirmed in-the-wild exploitation.
Researcher notes
Source evidence names the affected plugin and version range but does not provide exploit details, a fixed version, or operational indicators. Validation should focus on asset presence, version, authentication exposure, and evidence of unauthorized role changes.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the DD Roles plugin and record installed versions.
- Check Patchstack and vendor guidance for any fixed release or official mitigation.
- Disable or remove DD Roles where business impact allows until guidance is confirmed.
- Restrict creation and use of low-privileged WordPress accounts where possible.
- Review administrator accounts and role changes for unexpected modifications.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether DD Roles is installed on each WordPress property.
- Verify the installed plugin version is not 4.1 or earlier.
- Review WordPress users for unexpected elevated roles or capabilities.
- Check audit logs for unusual role, capability, or plugin-setting changes.
- Document compensating controls if the plugin cannot be removed quickly.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-266: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2025-23528 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9PatchstackVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/dd-roles/vulnerability/wordpress-dd-roles-plugin-4-1-privilege-escalation-vulnerability?_s_id=cveCVE reference, Patchstack · vdb-entry
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Privilege Assignment
Incorrect Privilege Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.