CVE-2025-32225: WP Event Manager Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-32225 Overview

CVE-2025-32225 is a missing authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] affecting the WP Event Manager plugin for WordPress. The flaw exists in versions up to and including 3.2.0 and stems from incorrectly configured access control security levels. Unauthenticated attackers can reach protected functionality over the network without any user interaction. Successful exploitation results in limited integrity impact, allowing modification of data that should be restricted to authorized users. The issue was published to the National Vulnerability Database on April 4, 2025.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can abuse broken access control in WP Event Manager to interact with functionality that should require authentication, impacting the integrity of event-related data on affected WordPress sites.

Affected Products

WP Event Manager plugin wp-event-manager for WordPress
All versions from an unspecified initial release through 3.2.0
WordPress sites with the vulnerable plugin installed and activated

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-04 - CVE-2025-32225 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-32225

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a broken access control issue in the WP Event Manager WordPress plugin. The plugin exposes functionality without properly verifying whether the requesting user holds the correct authorization level. Because the attack vector is network-based and requires neither privileges nor user interaction, any remote actor can send crafted requests to the affected endpoints. The impact is scoped to integrity, meaning attackers can alter certain plugin-managed data but cannot directly read sensitive information or degrade site availability through this flaw alone. The Patchstack advisory tracks the issue as a broken access control vulnerability against WP Event Manager 3.1.47 and earlier, with the fix line extending through 3.2.0.

Root Cause

The root cause is a missing authorization check [CWE-862] on one or more plugin actions. The affected code paths do not call WordPress capability functions such as current_user_can() or verify a valid nonce before executing privileged operations. This omission allows requests from unauthenticated sources to pass through the access control layer and reach state-changing logic.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires only network access to the target WordPress site. An attacker issues HTTP requests to the plugin's exposed action handlers, typically routed through admin-ajax.php, REST API endpoints, or plugin-specific request routes. Because no authentication token or capability check gates the request, the server processes the operation as if it were authorized. Refer to the Patchstack WP Event Manager Vulnerability advisory for endpoint-level technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-32225

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected creation, modification, or deletion of event records, categories, or organizer data managed by WP Event Manager.
Anomalous unauthenticated POST requests to admin-ajax.php referencing WP Event Manager actions, or to /wp-json/ routes tied to the plugin.
New or altered plugin-managed metadata correlated with source IP addresses that never authenticated to /wp-login.php.

Detection Strategies

Inventory WordPress installations and flag any running WP Event Manager at version 3.2.0 or lower.
Review web server access logs for repeated requests to plugin endpoints originating from clients without valid session cookies.
Correlate WordPress audit log entries for content changes with the absence of a matching authenticated user session.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable a WordPress activity logging plugin to record event data modifications and attribute them to a user or unauthenticated source.
Forward web server and WordPress logs to a centralized analytics platform and alert on unauthenticated writes to plugin endpoints.
Monitor for post-exploitation behavior such as spam event creation, redirect injection, or scraping of attendee data.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-32225

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade WP Event Manager to a version later than 3.2.0 that contains the vendor's access control fix.
Audit event, organizer, and venue records created or modified since the plugin was installed and revert unauthorized changes.
Restrict administrative endpoints such as admin-ajax.php and /wp-json/ behind a web application firewall until patching is complete.

Patch Information

The vendor has addressed the missing authorization issue in a release subsequent to 3.2.0. Consult the Patchstack WP Event Manager Vulnerability advisory for the fixed version and upgrade notes. WordPress administrators should apply the update through the standard plugin update workflow and verify the installed version afterward.

Workarounds

Deactivate the WP Event Manager plugin until it can be upgraded on production sites.
Deploy WAF rules that block unauthenticated requests to WP Event Manager AJAX and REST endpoints.
Enforce IP allowlisting on /wp-admin/ and require authenticated sessions for any plugin-managed action.

bash

# Verify installed WP Event Manager version and update via WP-CLI
wp plugin get wp-event-manager --field=version
wp plugin update wp-event-manager
wp plugin status wp-event-manager