CVE-2025-23999: Breeze Plugin Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-23999 Overview

CVE-2025-23999 is a missing authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the Cloudways Breeze WordPress plugin. The flaw affects Breeze versions up to and including 2.2.13. It stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels within the plugin, allowing authenticated users with low privileges to perform actions they should not be permitted to execute.

Breeze is a caching and site optimization plugin used by WordPress site administrators. The vulnerability requires network access and low privileges but no user interaction. Successful exploitation results in limited integrity impact without compromising confidentiality or availability.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers with minimal privileges can bypass access control checks in the Breeze plugin, enabling unauthorized modification of plugin-controlled configurations or cached content on affected WordPress sites.

Affected Products

• Cloudways Breeze WordPress plugin versions up to and including 2.2.13
• WordPress installations using Breeze for caching and site optimization
• Any hosted WordPress environment bundling Breeze <= 2.2.13

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-06-18 - CVE-2025-23999 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-23999

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a broken access control issue in the Breeze plugin. The plugin exposes functionality without properly verifying whether the requesting user holds the appropriate WordPress capability. Attackers authenticated with low-privilege accounts, such as subscribers, can invoke privileged operations that should be restricted to administrators.

The integrity impact is limited rather than complete. This suggests the exposed functionality permits modification of a subset of plugin state or cached data rather than arbitrary changes to core WordPress configuration. There is no direct disclosure of sensitive data and no denial-of-service condition.

The Patchstack advisory classifies this as a broken access control weakness. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Analysis for detailed technical findings.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing authorization checks on plugin endpoints. The Breeze plugin registers actions or AJAX handlers that fail to enforce a current_user_can() capability check or an equivalent nonce plus role validation. Any authenticated session can therefore reach the handler regardless of its assigned role.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires the attacker to hold a valid WordPress account on the target site. The attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the vulnerable Breeze endpoint, typically through the WordPress admin-ajax.php interface or a REST route registered by the plugin. Because the handler does not validate the caller's role, the request executes with the plugin's intended privileged behavior.

Sites that allow open user registration are the most exposed, since attackers can self-provision the low-privilege account required for exploitation.

No public proof-of-concept exploit is currently listed in Exploit-DB, and the vulnerability is not on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23999

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected POST requests to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php referencing Breeze actions from non-administrator sessions
• Modifications to Breeze cache configuration or purge events not tied to administrator activity
• Newly registered low-privilege accounts followed by requests to plugin-specific endpoints
• Web server logs showing successful 200 responses to Breeze handlers from subscriber-level session cookies

Detection Strategies

• Correlate WordPress user role data with request logs to identify low-privilege users invoking Breeze administrative actions
• Deploy a web application firewall rule that inspects Breeze AJAX action parameters and blocks requests from non-administrator sessions
• Monitor the WordPress audit log for configuration changes attributed to accounts that lack administrative capability

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose access logging for admin-ajax.php and REST API routes registered by installed plugins
• Track the installed version of Breeze across WordPress fleets and alert when version <= 2.2.13 is detected
• Alert on privilege-inconsistent activity such as subscribers triggering cache purges or plugin setting updates

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23999

Immediate Actions Required

• Inventory all WordPress sites and identify installations of the Breeze plugin at version <= 2.2.13
• Update Breeze to a version above 2.2.13 once released by Cloudways, or deactivate the plugin until a fix is available
• Disable open user registration on affected sites to reduce the pool of accounts capable of exploitation
• Audit existing low-privilege user accounts and remove any that were not explicitly provisioned

Patch Information

Cloudways has been notified through the Patchstack coordinated disclosure process. Site operators should monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Analysis entry and the official Breeze plugin changelog for the fixed release. Apply the vendor-supplied update as soon as it becomes available.

Workarounds

• Deactivate and remove the Breeze plugin until a patched version is installed
• Restrict access to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php at the web server or WAF layer for non-administrator sessions where feasible
• Apply virtual patching through a WordPress security plugin or WAF signature that filters Breeze plugin action parameters
• Enforce least privilege by auditing role assignments and eliminating unnecessary authenticated accounts

# Configuration example: identify vulnerable Breeze installations via WP-CLI
wp plugin list --name=breeze --fields=name,status,version

# Deactivate Breeze across a multisite network until patched
wp plugin deactivate breeze --network