CVE-2025-24580: 12 Step Meeting List Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-24580 Overview

CVE-2025-24580 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the AA Web Servant 12 Step Meeting List WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 3.16.5. Authenticated users with low privileges can exploit incorrectly configured access control checks to delete arbitrary content managed by the plugin.

The vulnerability maps to [CWE-862: Missing Authorization]. It requires network access and low privileges, and does not require user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to loss of availability for site content managed through the plugin.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers can trigger arbitrary content deletion through unprotected plugin endpoints, disrupting site availability for meeting listings and related resources.

Affected Products

• AA Web Servant 12 Step Meeting List plugin for WordPress
• All plugin versions up to and including 3.16.5
• WordPress sites running the 12-step-meeting-list plugin with authenticated users

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-24 - CVE-2025-24580 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24580

Vulnerability Analysis

The 12 Step Meeting List plugin exposes functionality that modifies or removes site content without verifying that the requesting user holds the appropriate WordPress capability. The plugin relies on incorrectly configured access control checks, which permit any authenticated user, including subscriber-level accounts, to invoke sensitive actions.

Because WordPress subscriber accounts are commonly available on sites with open registration, the required privilege bar is low. The impact is scoped to integrity of authorization decisions and availability of plugin-managed content, without direct confidentiality loss.

Detailed exploitation mechanics for this issue are documented in the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Root Cause

The root cause is a missing capability check in plugin action handlers. Handlers responsible for content deletion do not call current_user_can() with a suitable capability such as delete_posts or manage_options before executing destructive operations. Nonce validation alone, when present, does not enforce authorization.

Attack Vector

An attacker authenticates to the target WordPress site using any low-privilege account. The attacker then issues an HTTP request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint with parameters that identify the content to delete. The server processes the request and removes the target content without confirming the caller's authorization.

No user interaction and no administrative access are required. The attack completes over the network in a single request.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24580

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected deletion of meeting entries, posts, or plugin-managed items in the WordPress database
• HTTP POST requests to admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific endpoints from low-privilege user sessions
• WordPress audit log entries showing content removal actions initiated by non-administrator accounts
• Spikes in requests referencing 12-step-meeting-list handlers from a single authenticated session

Detection Strategies

• Enable a WordPress activity log plugin to capture user-initiated deletions with actor, timestamp, and target object identifiers
• Alert on any content deletion action performed by users below the editor role
• Inspect web server access logs for authenticated requests to plugin AJAX or REST endpoints followed by database change events

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward WordPress and web server logs to a centralized log platform for correlation and long-term retention
• Baseline normal deletion activity for the plugin, then alert on deviations
• Monitor for new subscriber account registrations followed shortly by plugin endpoint activity

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24580

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the 12 Step Meeting List plugin to a version later than 3.16.5 once the vendor publishes a fix
• Disable the plugin on any WordPress instance where an update is not yet available and the feature is not business critical
• Restrict user registration and audit existing low-privilege accounts for legitimacy
• Back up the WordPress database before applying updates so that deleted content can be restored if needed

Patch Information

Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the current fixed version and vendor advisory status. Apply plugin updates through the WordPress admin dashboard or via wp-cli for managed environments.

Workarounds

• Block requests to the vulnerable plugin endpoints at a web application firewall for authenticated non-administrator sessions
• Temporarily remove the plugin directory from wp-content/plugins/ on affected sites until a patched release is deployed
• Enforce the principle of least privilege by removing unused subscriber and contributor accounts

# Update the plugin using wp-cli once a fixed version is available
wp plugin update 12-step-meeting-list

# Or deactivate the plugin as a temporary workaround
wp plugin deactivate 12-step-meeting-list