CVE-2025-31012: Age Gate Authorization Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-31012 Overview

CVE-2025-31012 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] in the Phil Age Gate plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions of the age-gate plugin up to and including 3.5.4. Attackers can access functionality that is not properly constrained by access control lists (ACLs). The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network, requires no authentication, and no user interaction. Exploitation results in limited disclosure of information handled by the plugin but does not directly impact integrity or availability. Site administrators running the affected plugin should update to a patched release once available.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated remote attackers can invoke plugin functionality that should be restricted by access controls, leading to limited information exposure on affected WordPress sites.

Affected Products

Phil Age Gate plugin for WordPress (age-gate) — versions up to and including 3.5.4

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-09 - CVE-2025-31012 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-31012

Vulnerability Analysis

The Age Gate plugin exposes functionality intended for privileged users without enforcing proper authorization checks. The weakness maps to [CWE-862]: Missing Authorization. An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted HTTP requests directly to affected plugin endpoints. Because the plugin does not verify the requester's capabilities before executing sensitive actions, the request succeeds. The impact is scoped to confidentiality: an attacker can read data that the plugin should have restricted. Integrity and availability are not affected by this issue.

Root Cause

The root cause is broken access control within the plugin's request-handling logic. Handlers registered by the plugin do not call WordPress capability checks such as current_user_can() or verify nonces before running privileged operations. The absence of these gate checks allows any HTTP client to reach code paths that assume caller trust.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based. An attacker sends HTTP requests to a WordPress site running Age Gate <= 3.5.4 and invokes the unprotected functionality directly. No credentials, tokens, or user interaction are required. The vulnerability is exploitable against any internet-reachable WordPress instance that has the affected plugin installed and activated. Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for advisory details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-31012

Indicators of Compromise

Unauthenticated HTTP POST or GET requests to WordPress AJAX endpoints such as /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php referencing age_gate actions.
Requests to plugin routes under /wp-content/plugins/age-gate/ from external IP addresses outside expected traffic patterns.
Access log entries showing successful 200 responses to plugin endpoints without an authenticated session cookie.

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for repeated requests referencing age-gate action parameters from a single source.
Enable WordPress audit logging to record plugin action invocations and correlate against authenticated user sessions.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that flags unauthenticated access to Age Gate plugin actions.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor for anomalous request volume against admin-ajax.php with action=age_gate* parameters.
Track new or unexpected outbound data flows following requests to plugin endpoints.
Alert on WordPress plugin version fingerprints indicating Age Gate <= 3.5.4 in inventory scans.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-31012

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Age Gate plugin to a version later than 3.5.4 as soon as the vendor releases a patched build.
Deactivate and remove the plugin if a patched version is not yet available and the functionality is not business-critical.
Review web server and WordPress logs for prior unauthenticated access to plugin endpoints.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the vulnerability affects Age Gate versions up to and including 3.5.4. Site owners should consult the Patchstack advisory for the latest fixed version information and apply the vendor patch through the WordPress plugin update mechanism.

Workarounds

Restrict access to /wp-content/plugins/age-gate/ and related AJAX actions at the WAF or reverse proxy layer until a patch is installed.
Apply virtual patching rules via a managed WordPress security service to block unauthenticated calls to Age Gate handlers.
Remove the plugin entirely if age-verification functionality is not required on the site.

bash

# Example: block unauthenticated Age Gate AJAX actions at the web server (nginx)
location = /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php {
    if ($arg_action ~* "^age_gate") {
        return 403;
    }
}