CVE-2025-22289: LTL Freight Quotes Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2025-22289 Overview

CVE-2025-22289 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability affecting the LTL Freight Quotes – Unishippers Edition WordPress plugin developed by Eniture. This broken access control flaw allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially gaining unauthorized access to plugin functionality and sensitive operations without proper authentication or authorization checks.

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks (CWE-862) within the plugin, enabling unauthenticated attackers to bypass security controls and interact with protected functionality. Given the plugin's role in managing freight quotes and shipping operations, exploitation could lead to unauthorized data access, manipulation of shipping configurations, or other business-critical impacts.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit broken access control to bypass authorization checks, potentially compromising shipping operations, accessing sensitive business data, or manipulating freight quote configurations.

Affected Products

• Eniture LTL Freight Quotes – Unishippers Edition versions up to and including 2.5.8
• WordPress installations running vulnerable versions of the plugin

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-02-16 - CVE-2025-22289 published to NVD
• 2025-05-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-22289

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a classic broken access control issue where the WordPress plugin fails to implement proper authorization checks before allowing access to protected functionality. The missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) occurs when the application does not verify that a user has the necessary permissions to perform a requested action.

In the context of WordPress plugins, this typically manifests when AJAX handlers, REST API endpoints, or administrative functions lack proper capability checks using WordPress functions like current_user_can() or nonce verification. Without these controls, any user—including unauthenticated visitors—can invoke privileged operations.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability combined with the lack of required authentication makes it particularly dangerous, as attackers can remotely exploit the flaw without any prior access to the target system.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-22289 is the absence of authorization verification logic within the LTL Freight Quotes – Unishippers Edition plugin. When plugin functions that should be restricted to administrators or authenticated users are exposed without proper permission checks, the security boundary between anonymous visitors and privileged users collapses.

WordPress plugins must explicitly implement authorization checks, as the framework does not automatically protect custom endpoints or AJAX handlers. The failure to include these checks in versions through 2.5.8 creates an exploitable access control gap.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based, requiring no authentication, user interaction, or special privileges. An attacker can directly send crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoints exposed by the plugin.

A typical exploitation scenario involves:

1. Identifying WordPress installations with the vulnerable plugin through fingerprinting techniques
2. Discovering unprotected AJAX actions or REST API endpoints registered by the plugin
3. Sending crafted requests to these endpoints to invoke privileged functionality
4. Manipulating shipping configurations, accessing freight quote data, or performing other unauthorized operations

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely from any network location that can reach the target WordPress installation.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22289

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected modifications to shipping or freight quote configurations
• Unusual API or AJAX requests to LTL Freight Quotes plugin endpoints from unauthenticated sessions
• Access logs showing requests to plugin-specific endpoints without corresponding WordPress authentication cookies
• Anomalous changes to plugin settings or database entries related to Unishippers integration

Detection Strategies

• Review web server access logs for suspicious requests targeting /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with plugin-specific action parameters
• Monitor for REST API calls to plugin endpoints that lack proper authentication headers
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block unauthorized access attempts to plugin functionality
• Use WordPress security plugins to audit unauthorized access attempts and configuration changes

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for WordPress AJAX and REST API requests
• Configure alerts for configuration changes to shipping and freight quote settings
• Implement file integrity monitoring on plugin files to detect tampering
• Regularly audit user access patterns and plugin activity logs for anomalies

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22289

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the LTL Freight Quotes – Unishippers Edition plugin to a version newer than 2.5.8 that addresses this vulnerability
• If an update is not immediately available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin until a patch is released
• Review recent plugin configuration changes and shipping data for signs of unauthorized modification
• Implement WAF rules to restrict access to plugin endpoints while awaiting a patch

Patch Information

Organizations should monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Advisory for updated patch information and remediation guidance. Update the plugin through the WordPress dashboard or by downloading the latest version from the official WordPress plugin repository once a patched version becomes available.

Workarounds

• Implement IP-based access restrictions to limit who can reach WordPress admin and AJAX endpoints
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall with rules specifically blocking unauthorized access to the affected plugin endpoints
• Use WordPress capability management plugins to add an additional layer of access control
• Consider temporarily deactivating the plugin if it is not critical to operations until a patch is available