CVE-2025-23477: Realty Workstation Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2025-23477 Overview

CVE-2025-23477 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the Realty Workstation WordPress plugin developed by realtyworkstation. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.0.45. Attackers can access plugin functionality that is not properly constrained by Access Control Lists (ACLs), leading to broken access control. The vulnerability is network-exploitable, requires no privileges, and needs no user interaction.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can invoke privileged plugin functions remotely, modify protected data, and partially disrupt site availability across vulnerable Realty Workstation deployments.

Affected Products

Realty Workstation WordPress plugin (realty-workstation) versions through 1.0.45
WordPress sites running the realtyworkstation plugin without restricted access controls
Real estate websites exposing plugin endpoints to unauthenticated network traffic

Discovery Timeline

2025-01-21 - CVE-2025-23477 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-04-23 - Last updated in the NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-23477

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks in the Realty Workstation plugin. The plugin exposes functionality through endpoints that fail to verify whether the requesting user holds the required capability or role. Attackers can call these endpoints directly without authenticating as a privileged user.

This category of flaw, classified under [CWE-862], occurs when application code performs a sensitive action without first validating the requester's permissions. In WordPress plugins, this typically manifests as missing current_user_can() checks, absent nonce validation, or AJAX handlers registered under wp_ajax_nopriv_* that should not be accessible to anonymous users.

Successful exploitation grants attackers the ability to modify plugin-managed data with high integrity impact and produces low availability impact on affected sites. Confidentiality is not directly impacted according to the published CVSS vector, but downstream data tampering can still result in business logic compromise.

Root Cause

The root cause is the plugin's failure to enforce capability or role checks on one or more privileged actions. Functionality intended for administrators or property managers is reachable by unauthenticated network requests, violating the principle of least privilege.

Attack Vector

An attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to vulnerable plugin endpoints over the network. Because no authentication, privileges, or user interaction are required, exploitation can be fully automated and conducted at scale against exposed WordPress installations.

No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. Refer to the Patchstack Plugin Vulnerability Report for additional technical analysis.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23477

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to listings, agent profiles, or other Realty Workstation plugin data without corresponding admin login events
Anonymous or low-privilege HTTP POST requests targeting admin-ajax.php with Realty Workstation action parameters
New, modified, or deleted plugin records originating from IP addresses not associated with administrator activity

Detection Strategies

Audit WordPress access logs for requests to plugin endpoints lacking valid authentication cookies or nonces
Compare plugin database tables against known-good backups to identify unauthorized record changes
Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that flag requests to realty-workstation action handlers from unauthenticated sessions

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward WordPress and web server logs to a centralized logging platform for correlation and alerting
Alert on spikes in admin-ajax.php traffic with plugin-specific action names from unauthenticated clients
Track file integrity for the wp-content/plugins/realty-workstation/ directory to detect tampering

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23477

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Realty Workstation plugin to a version newer than 1.0.45 once the vendor publishes a patched release
If no patched version is available, deactivate and remove the plugin until a fix is published
Review user accounts and plugin-managed records for unauthorized changes made prior to remediation

Patch Information

As of the latest NVD update, the vulnerability affects Realty Workstation versions up to and including 1.0.45. Site administrators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the official WordPress plugin repository for a vendor-issued fix.

Workarounds

Restrict access to vulnerable plugin endpoints using WAF rules or web server access controls
Limit access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php from trusted IP ranges where feasible
Disable the Realty Workstation plugin on production sites until the vendor publishes a security update

bash

# Example: temporarily deactivate the plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate realty-workstation

# Example: nginx rule to block unauthenticated POSTs to plugin actions
# Place inside the server block of the WordPress vhost
location = /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php {
    if ($arg_action ~* "^realty_workstation_") {
        return 403;
    }
}