CVE-2025-22670: VikBooking Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-22670 Overview

CVE-2025-22670 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the e4jvikwp VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.7.2. Attackers can exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels to interact with plugin functionality that should require authorization. According to the Patchstack advisory, the issue is also exploitable through Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) to trigger settings changes. The vulnerability requires no authentication and can be delivered over the network with low complexity.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can alter plugin settings on affected VikBooking installations, potentially disrupting hotel booking workflows and exposing configuration data through user-triggered CSRF payloads.

Affected Products

VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS WordPress plugin versions through 1.7.2
WordPress sites running the vikbooking plugin by e4jvikwp
Hotel management deployments using VikBooking PMS features

Discovery Timeline

2025-03-27 - CVE-2025-22670 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-22670

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability originates from missing authorization checks in the VikBooking plugin's request handlers. Sensitive actions, including settings modification, do not verify that the caller holds the required capability or a valid nonce. This gap allows an unauthenticated attacker to invoke privileged endpoints or coerce an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged request. The Patchstack advisory classifies the issue as a CSRF-to-settings-change vulnerability, indicating that state-changing operations lack proper anti-CSRF tokens in addition to capability checks. Successful exploitation impacts integrity and availability of the plugin configuration, though confidentiality impact is limited.

Root Cause

The root cause is a broken access control pattern classified under [CWE-862] Missing Authorization. Action handlers within the plugin execute privileged operations without validating the requester's role, capability, or a WordPress nonce. Without these controls, the plugin cannot distinguish between legitimate administrator activity and forged requests submitted from an attacker-controlled context.

Attack Vector

An attacker hosts a crafted page containing a form or script that submits a request to the vulnerable VikBooking endpoint on a target WordPress site. When a signed-in administrator visits the attacker page, the browser submits the request with the admin's session cookies. Because the endpoint does not enforce authorization or nonce validation, the plugin processes the request and applies the attacker-supplied settings. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for endpoint-level details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22670

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected changes to VikBooking plugin settings, including payment, notification, or channel-manager configuration values.
WordPress POST requests to VikBooking action endpoints originating from external Referer headers.
Administrator sessions producing settings-write requests immediately after visiting untrusted external sites.

Detection Strategies

Compare current VikBooking configuration against a known-good baseline stored in version control or backups.
Inspect WordPress audit logs for administrator-initiated settings changes without a corresponding admin console navigation trail.
Alert on HTTP requests to admin-ajax.php or plugin action routes where the Referer domain does not match the site's hostname.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress activity logging with per-option change tracking for the vikbooking option namespace.
Forward web server access logs to a centralized analytics platform and query for high-privilege actions lacking nonce parameters.
Monitor plugin file integrity and configuration tables for out-of-band modifications.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22670

Immediate Actions Required

Update the VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS plugin to a version later than 1.7.2 as soon as the vendor releases a fix.
Restrict WordPress administrator access to trusted networks and require re-authentication for privileged sessions.
Audit VikBooking settings, API keys, and payment gateway configuration for unauthorized modifications.

Patch Information

The Patchstack advisory tracks remediation status for this issue. Administrators should consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the current fixed version and vendor patch details. No fixed version is listed in the NVD entry at the time of publication.

Workarounds

Deactivate the VikBooking plugin until a patched release is installed if hotel booking functionality is not business-critical.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that blocks cross-origin POST requests to VikBooking admin endpoints.
Enforce SameSite=Strict session cookies and require administrators to use a dedicated browser profile for WordPress management.

bash

# Example WAF rule concept for blocking cross-origin writes to VikBooking endpoints
# (adapt to your WAF syntax; illustrative only)
SecRule REQUEST_METHOD "@streq POST" \
  "chain,deny,status:403,id:1002270,msg:'Block cross-origin VikBooking settings change'"
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx /wp-admin/admin(-ajax|)\.php" \
  "chain"
SecRule ARGS:task|ARGS:action "@rx vikbooking" \
  "chain"
SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "!@beginsWith https://your-site.example/"