CVE-2025-31580: Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry Auth Bypass

CVE-2025-31580 Overview

CVE-2025-31580 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) affecting the Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry WordPress plugin developed by Anzar Ahmed. This Broken Access Control vulnerability allows attackers to access functionality that is not properly constrained by Access Control Lists (ACLs), potentially enabling unauthorized actions within the plugin's scope.

The vulnerability stems from improper authorization checks within the plugin, allowing unauthenticated or low-privileged users to perform actions that should require higher privileges. This type of flaw is particularly concerning in e-commerce environments where customer data and transaction integrity are paramount.

Critical Impact

Attackers can bypass authorization controls to access restricted plugin functionality, potentially compromising WooCommerce product enquiry data and store operations.

Affected Products

• Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry plugin versions through 4.1.8
• WordPress installations running the vulnerable plugin versions
• WooCommerce stores utilizing the Ni Product Enquiry feature

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-04-01 - CVE-2025-31580 published to NVD
• 2026-04-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-31580

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), which occurs when software does not perform authorization checks when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. In the context of the Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry plugin, the application fails to verify that a user has the appropriate permissions before allowing access to certain functionality.

Missing authorization vulnerabilities differ from authentication bypasses in that the application may correctly identify who the user is, but fails to verify whether that user should be allowed to perform the requested action. This creates opportunities for both horizontal privilege escalation (accessing other users' data) and vertical privilege escalation (performing administrative actions).

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-31580 is the absence of proper capability checks or nonce verification in the plugin's AJAX handlers or action hooks. WordPress plugins should implement permission checks using functions like current_user_can() to verify user capabilities before processing sensitive requests. When these checks are missing or improperly implemented, any authenticated user—or in some cases unauthenticated visitors—can invoke restricted functionality.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability involves sending crafted requests to WordPress AJAX endpoints or action hooks exposed by the Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry plugin. Since authorization controls are missing, an attacker can construct HTTP requests that directly invoke privileged functionality without possessing the required WordPress capabilities.

Exploitation typically involves:

1. Identifying the vulnerable AJAX action or endpoint exposed by the plugin
2. Crafting a request that mimics legitimate administrative operations
3. Submitting the request without valid authorization credentials
4. Gaining unauthorized access to plugin functionality or data

The vulnerability allows accessing functionality not properly constrained by ACLs, meaning attackers could potentially view, modify, or delete product enquiry data submitted by customers through the WooCommerce store.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-31580

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual activity in WordPress AJAX logs related to ni-woocommerce-product-enquiry plugin actions
• Unauthorized access to product enquiry records or customer contact information
• Unexpected modifications to plugin settings without corresponding admin user activity
• Suspicious HTTP POST requests targeting plugin-specific endpoints from unauthenticated sessions

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress audit logs for plugin-related actions performed by users without appropriate roles
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect unauthorized access attempts to WooCommerce plugin endpoints
• Review server access logs for abnormal request patterns targeting /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with plugin-specific action parameters
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions to identify exploitation attempts against WordPress installations

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all WordPress AJAX requests and plugin actions
• Configure alerts for access control failures or authorization errors in WordPress logs
• Implement rate limiting on AJAX endpoints to detect automated exploitation attempts
• Monitor for bulk data access patterns that may indicate unauthorized data extraction

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-31580

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry plugin to a patched version when available from the developer
• Review WordPress user roles and capabilities to ensure minimum required permissions are assigned
• Implement additional access controls at the web server or WAF level as a temporary measure
• Audit recent plugin activity for signs of unauthorized access or data manipulation

Patch Information

Users should monitor the official WordPress plugin repository and the developer's website for security updates addressing this vulnerability. The Patchstack Vulnerability Report provides additional details about the vulnerability disclosure. Until a patch is released, consider temporarily disabling the plugin if it is not critical to business operations.

Workarounds

• Temporarily disable the Ni WooCommerce Product Enquiry plugin until a security patch is available
• Implement server-level access restrictions to limit plugin endpoint access to authorized IP addresses
• Use a WordPress security plugin to add additional authorization layers and capability checks
• Consider alternative WooCommerce product enquiry plugins with verified security practices

# Temporarily disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate ni-woocommerce-product-enquiry

# Verify plugin status
wp plugin list --name=ni-woocommerce-product-enquiry --fields=name,status

# When patch is available, update the plugin
wp plugin update ni-woocommerce-product-enquiry