CVE-2025-30636 Overview
CVE-2025-30636 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Ability, Inc Accessibility Suite plugin (online-accessibility) for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 4.19. It stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels, allowing authenticated users with low privileges to reach functionality that should be restricted. The issue is classified under [CWE-862: Missing Authorization]. Successful exploitation can lead to limited integrity and availability impact on affected sites.
Critical Impact
An authenticated attacker with minimal privileges can interact with plugin functionality that lacks proper authorization checks, modifying accessibility configuration data on the target WordPress site.
Affected Products
- Ability, Inc Accessibility Suite (online-accessibility) WordPress plugin
- All versions from initial release through 4.19
- WordPress sites with the plugin installed and activated
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-06 - CVE-2025-30636 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in the NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-30636
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability exists in the Accessibility Suite plugin's handling of authorization checks on one or more plugin actions. The plugin exposes functionality that does not verify whether the requesting user has the required capability or role. As a result, authenticated users with low privilege levels can access endpoints intended for higher-privileged administrators. The exposure is limited to actions the plugin performs, so impact is scoped to integrity and availability of plugin-managed data. There is no reported confidentiality impact.
Root Cause
The root cause is a missing authorization check on plugin actions, tracked as [CWE-862]. WordPress plugins typically enforce access control using current_user_can() capability checks or nonce verification via check_admin_referer() and wp_verify_nonce(). In vulnerable versions of Accessibility Suite through 4.19, one or more handlers omit these checks or rely on client-side restrictions only. Any authenticated session, including low-privilege roles such as Subscriber, can invoke the affected functionality.
Attack Vector
The attack is network-based and requires an authenticated session with low privileges. No user interaction is required. An attacker submits a crafted HTTP request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint, such as an admin-ajax.php action or a REST route registered by the plugin. Because the handler does not enforce a capability check, the request executes with the privileges the operation itself carries rather than those of the requester.
Full technical details are described in the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.
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Stop Identity AttacksDetection Methods for CVE-2025-30636
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to Accessibility Suite plugin settings or accessibility widget configuration.
- WordPress audit log entries showing low-privilege users (Subscriber, Contributor) invoking plugin AJAX or REST actions.
- Anomalous POST requests to admin-ajax.php referencing online-accessibility action names.
Detection Strategies
- Inventory WordPress installations and identify sites running Accessibility Suite version 4.19 or earlier.
- Review web server access logs for requests to plugin endpoints originating from non-administrator accounts.
- Correlate authentication events with plugin configuration changes to identify unauthorized activity.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a WordPress activity log plugin to record plugin setting changes and REST/AJAX invocations.
- Alert on HTTP requests to online-accessibility handlers from user sessions lacking the Administrator role.
- Monitor for unexpected changes to files or database options owned by the plugin.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-30636
Immediate Actions Required
- Identify all WordPress instances using the Accessibility Suite plugin and confirm the installed version.
- Update the plugin to a fixed release as published by the vendor. If no fix is available, deactivate and remove the plugin.
- Audit user accounts and remove unused low-privilege accounts that could be leveraged to reach the vulnerable code path.
Patch Information
The advisory in the Patchstack Vulnerability Report identifies all versions through 4.19 as affected. Site administrators should apply the vendor-supplied update once available and validate that the plugin enforces current_user_can() checks on all administrative actions.
Workarounds
- Deactivate the Accessibility Suite plugin until a patched version is installed.
- Restrict access to wp-admin and admin-ajax.php using a web application firewall rule that blocks non-administrator sessions from invoking online-accessibility actions.
- Enforce strong authentication and disable open user registration to reduce the pool of authenticated attackers.
# Example WordPress CLI commands to inventory and disable the plugin
wp plugin list --name=online-accessibility --fields=name,status,version
wp plugin deactivate online-accessibility
wp plugin delete online-accessibility
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
