Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A WordPress plugin called Progress Planner (versions up to and including 1.8.0) lets a low-privilege logged-in user gain higher access than they should have. In practical terms, a contributor or subscriber on an affected site could elevate themselves toward administrator-level control, which would let them change site content, install code, or take over the site entirely.
Executive priority
High priority for any business running WordPress sites with Progress Planner installed, particularly sites that allow user registration or have multiple content contributors. A successful attack could result in full site takeover, defacement, malware distribution to visitors, or data exposure. Patch or remove the plugin within standard high-severity SLAs.
Technical view
CVE-2025-48082 is an Incorrect Privilege Assignment flaw (CWE-266) in the Progress Planner WordPress plugin through version 1.8.0. CVSS 3.1 is 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating network-reachable exploitation by an authenticated low-privilege account with no user interaction, leading to high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability via privilege escalation.
Likely exposure
Any WordPress site running the Progress Planner plugin at version 1.8.0 or earlier where untrusted or low-trust accounts (subscribers, contributors, authors) can register or are provisioned. Multi-author blogs, membership sites, and sites with open registration face the highest exposure.
Exploitation context
Not listed in CISA KEV and no public exploitation reports are cited in the source bundle. The CVSS vector requires an authenticated account, which is trivially obtainable on sites permitting self-registration. Patchstack catalogs the issue as a privilege escalation; treat as high risk pending vendor confirmation of a fixed release.
Researcher notes
CWE-266 with PR:L and UI:N suggests the flaw lets an authenticated low-role user assign themselves a higher role through an insufficiently authorized plugin function or capability check. The CVE record lists affected versions as "<=1.8.0" with no fixed version named in the bundle; verify the vendor changelog and Patchstack entry for a patched release before signing off.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites and identify any using the Progress Planner plugin at version 1.8.0 or earlier.
- Check the Progress Planner vendor and Patchstack advisory for a fixed version and update immediately when available.
- If no fix is available, deactivate and remove the plugin from production sites.
- Disable open user registration and review existing low-privilege accounts for legitimacy.
- Place affected sites behind a WAF capable of blocking WordPress privilege-escalation patterns.
- Rotate administrator credentials and review user role changes after remediation.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed Progress Planner version via WordPress Plugins screen or wp-cli plugin list.
- Audit wp_users and wp_usermeta for unexpected role elevations (administrator, editor) created since plugin install.
- Review web server and WordPress audit logs for suspicious authenticated requests to plugin endpoints.
- Verify the Patchstack advisory for the patched version and confirm post-update version on each site.
- Re-test that low-privilege test accounts cannot alter their role after remediation.
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-2025-48082 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.
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:H2.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability 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
Source materials
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.