CVE-2025-23955 Overview
CVE-2025-23955 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Xola Bookings for Tours & Activities WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.6. It stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels [CWE-862], allowing authenticated users with low privileges to reach functionality that should be restricted.
An attacker with a valid low-privilege account on a WordPress site running the vulnerable plugin can invoke protected actions without proper authorization checks. The vulnerability affects integrity but does not directly expose confidential data or disrupt availability.
Critical Impact
Authenticated users with minimal privileges can perform actions restricted to higher-privileged roles, enabling unauthorized modification of booking plugin data on affected WordPress sites.
Affected Products
- Xola Bookings for Tours & Activities WordPress plugin (xola-bookings-for-tours-activities)
- Versions from n/a through 1.6
- WordPress sites where the plugin is installed and active
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-01-16 - CVE-2025-23955 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-23955
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability is a broken access control issue classified under CWE-862: Missing Authorization. The Xola plugin exposes one or more actions or endpoints that fail to verify the caller's role or capability before executing sensitive operations.
WordPress plugins typically enforce authorization through current_user_can() capability checks and nonce verification on AJAX handlers or admin-post actions. When these checks are absent or misconfigured, any authenticated session, including Subscriber-level accounts, can invoke the underlying handler. The Patchstack advisory categorizes this specifically as a broken access control vulnerability.
Exploitation requires network access and an authenticated session with low privileges. No user interaction is required, and attack complexity is low. The impact is limited to integrity, with no direct confidentiality or availability effects.
Root Cause
The plugin registers action handlers or REST endpoints without validating the requesting user's capability. Access control decisions rely on incorrect assumptions about which roles can reach a given code path. As a result, security-relevant functions execute for any authenticated user rather than only administrators or intended roles.
Attack Vector
An attacker registers or compromises a low-privilege WordPress account on the target site. The attacker then issues authenticated HTTP requests to the plugin's vulnerable endpoints. Because the endpoints do not enforce the correct capability check, the requests succeed and modify plugin-managed data.
See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical context. No public proof-of-concept exploit is currently listed for this CVE.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23955
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints originating from Subscriber or Contributor accounts.
- Modifications to Xola plugin settings, bookings, or configuration entries without a corresponding administrator session.
- New or recently registered low-privilege user accounts that immediately access plugin actions.
Detection Strategies
- Review WordPress access logs for authenticated requests to Xola plugin handlers from non-administrator sessions.
- Audit the plugin's options and booking records for changes that do not match legitimate administrator activity.
- Enable a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set that flags broken access control patterns against known WordPress plugin endpoints.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on privilege-role mismatches where low-privilege users invoke administrative plugin actions.
- Track user registration spikes on sites that allow open signup, especially before plugin configuration changes.
- Correlate WordPress audit logs with edge access logs to identify sessions that repeatedly probe plugin AJAX endpoints.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23955
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate the Xola Bookings for Tours & Activities plugin until a patched version is confirmed installed.
- Restrict user registration on the affected WordPress site, or set the default new-user role to the lowest necessary level.
- Rotate credentials for any low-privilege accounts that show suspicious activity in access logs.
Patch Information
The vendor has not published a fixed version identifier in the referenced advisory at the time of this writing. Monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the WordPress plugin repository for a release later than version 1.6 that addresses the missing authorization checks.
Workarounds
- Use a WordPress security plugin or WAF to block unauthenticated and low-privilege requests to Xola plugin AJAX and REST endpoints.
- Apply the principle of least privilege by removing unnecessary user accounts and disabling public registration where not required.
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php at the network edge for known plugin actions, allowing only trusted source addresses where feasible.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
