CVE-2025-0952: Eco Nature WordPress Theme DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-0952 Overview

CVE-2025-0952 affects the Eco Nature - Environment & Ecology WordPress Theme in all versions up to and including 2.0.4. The theme exposes the cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice AJAX action without a capability check. Authenticated users with Subscriber-level access can invoke the action and update arbitrary option values to hide on the target site. Attackers can leverage the flaw to corrupt site options, trigger errors that deny service to legitimate users, or flip option flags such as user registration to true. The issue is classified under CWE-862: Missing Authorization.

Critical Impact
Subscriber-level accounts can modify WordPress options, causing denial of service and unauthorized configuration changes including enabling open registration.

Affected Products

Eco Nature - Environment & Ecology WordPress Theme, versions through 2.0.4
WordPress installations using the affected theme on any hosting environment
Sites permitting Subscriber-level account registration are at highest exposure

Discovery Timeline

2025-03-14 - CVE-2025-0952 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-0952

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a missing authorization flaw in the AJAX handler tied to the cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice action. WordPress themes routinely register AJAX endpoints via wp_ajax_{action} hooks. Secure handlers must verify both a valid nonce and the caller's capabilities before mutating site state. The Eco Nature theme registers the dismissal handler in a way that any authenticated user can reach it, and the callback writes to the WordPress options table without confirming the user holds an administrative capability such as manage_options.

Because the option name and value are influenced by the request, the handler can be coerced into setting site options to the string hide or to truthy values. Setting critical options to unexpected values can break front-end rendering, disrupt plugin behavior, or alter security-relevant flags such as users_can_register.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of a current_user_can() check inside the AJAX callback registered for cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice. The handler trusts that only administrators dismiss admin notices, but WordPress fires wp_ajax_* hooks for any authenticated user. Without capability enforcement, any Subscriber session can invoke the endpoint.

Attack Vector

An attacker first obtains Subscriber-level access, either by registering on a site that permits open registration or by using existing low-privilege credentials. The attacker then issues an authenticated POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php specifying action=cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice along with the option parameters consumed by the handler. The server updates the targeted option value without verifying privileges, achieving unauthorized integrity and availability impact. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-0952

Indicators of Compromise

Requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php carrying action=cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice from non-administrative user sessions
Unexpected wp_options rows updated to the value hide or flipped to true, particularly users_can_register
Surges in new Subscriber registrations followed by AJAX traffic to the vulnerable action
Site errors or broken front-end rendering correlating with recent option mutations

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for POST requests to admin-ajax.php containing the cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice action string
Compare current wp_options values against a known-good baseline to identify unauthorized modifications
Alert on Subscriber accounts performing AJAX actions normally reserved for administrators

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging to capture option changes with the responsible user ID and timestamp
Forward web access logs and WordPress audit events to a central SIEM for correlation
Monitor account registration rate and user-role distribution for anomalous growth

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-0952

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Eco Nature theme to a version newer than 2.0.4 once the vendor publishes a fix via ThemeForest
Disable open user registration by setting users_can_register to 0 until the theme is patched
Audit existing Subscriber accounts and remove untrusted users
Restore any modified wp_options values from a verified backup

Patch Information

No fixed version is referenced in the NVD entry at the time of publication. Site operators should monitor the vendor's ThemeForest listing and the Wordfence advisory for an updated release addressing the missing capability check.

Workarounds

Block requests to admin-ajax.php with action=cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice at the web application firewall when the requester is not an administrator
Restrict access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php from untrusted networks where feasible
Switch to an alternative theme until a patched release is available if the site cannot tolerate the risk

bash

# Example WAF rule blocking the vulnerable AJAX action
# (ModSecurity-style pseudo-rule - adapt to your WAF syntax)
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@endsWith /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
  "chain,id:1009520,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'CVE-2025-0952 block'"
  SecRule ARGS:action "@streq cmsmasters_hide_admin_notice"