CVE-2025-14428: My Sticky Elements Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-14428 Overview

The All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs - My Sticky Elements plugin for WordPress contains a Missing Authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) that enables unauthorized data deletion. The vulnerability exists in the my_sticky_elements_bulks function across all versions up to and including 2.3.3, where a missing capability check allows authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or above to delete all contact form leads stored by the plugin.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers with minimal privileges (Subscriber-level) can delete all contact form submission data, resulting in permanent loss of business-critical lead information.

Affected Products

• My Sticky Elements plugin for WordPress versions up to and including 2.3.3
• WordPress installations running vulnerable plugin versions

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-01-01 - CVE-2025-14428 published to NVD
• 2026-01-02 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-14428

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a classic Missing Authorization flaw where the plugin fails to implement proper capability checks before executing sensitive operations. The my_sticky_elements_bulks function handles bulk operations on contact form leads but does not verify whether the requesting user has appropriate permissions to perform data deletion.

In WordPress, plugins should implement capability checks using functions like current_user_can() to ensure only authorized roles (typically administrators) can perform destructive operations. The absence of this check means any authenticated user, including those with the minimal Subscriber role, can invoke the bulk deletion functionality.

The attack requires only network access and low-privilege authentication, with no user interaction needed. While the vulnerability does not expose confidential data or enable arbitrary code execution, the integrity impact is significant as attackers can permanently destroy valuable business data.

Root Cause

The root cause is a missing authorization check (CWE-862) in the my_sticky_elements_bulks function located in mystickyelements-admin.php. The function processes bulk operations on stored contact form leads without first verifying that the current user has the appropriate capability (such as manage_options or a custom plugin capability) to perform administrative actions on plugin data.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires only authenticated access with Subscriber-level privileges. An attacker would:

1. Register or compromise a Subscriber-level account on the target WordPress site
2. Craft a request to the vulnerable my_sticky_elements_bulks endpoint
3. Execute the bulk delete operation to remove all contact form leads

The attack requires no user interaction and can be performed by any authenticated user, making it exploitable in multi-user WordPress environments where user registration is enabled or attacker has obtained low-privilege credentials.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-14428

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected bulk deletion of contact form leads in the My Sticky Elements plugin
• Database queries showing mass deletions in plugin-related tables
• Unusual AJAX requests to WordPress admin endpoints from low-privilege users
• Log entries showing Subscriber-level users accessing admin functionality

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress audit logs for unauthorized access to plugin administrative functions
• Implement database integrity checks to detect unexpected data deletions in plugin tables
• Review web server access logs for suspicious POST requests to admin-ajax.php containing bulk operation parameters
• Configure security plugins to alert on privilege boundary violations

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive WordPress activity logging to track all user actions
• Implement database backup procedures to enable recovery from data loss
• Monitor for anomalous patterns of authenticated requests from low-privilege accounts
• Deploy web application firewall rules to detect and block unauthorized admin actions

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-14428

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the My Sticky Elements plugin to a version newer than 2.3.3 that contains the security fix
• Review WordPress user accounts and remove unnecessary Subscriber-level accounts
• Audit plugin database tables for any unexpected data deletions
• Create a backup of existing contact form leads before applying updates

Patch Information

A security patch has been released to address this vulnerability. The fix is available in WordPress Change Set 3423407. Users should update to the latest version of the My Sticky Elements plugin through the WordPress plugin repository. Additional technical analysis is available from Wordfence.

Workarounds

• Temporarily disable the My Sticky Elements plugin until the patch can be applied
• Restrict user registration on the WordPress site to prevent unauthorized account creation
• Implement additional access controls at the web server level to restrict admin-ajax.php access
• Use a security plugin to add capability checks on vulnerable endpoints until the official patch is applied

# Verify current plugin version
wp plugin list --name=mystickyelements --fields=name,version,update_version

# Update to patched version
wp plugin update mystickyelements

# Backup plugin database tables before update
wp db export --tables=$(wp db tables --url=yoursite.com '*mystickyelements*' --format=csv)