CVE-2025-4474: WordPress Frontend Dashboard Privilege Escalation

CVE-2025-4474 Overview

CVE-2025-4474 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Frontend Dashboard plugin for WordPress, affecting versions 1.0 through 2.2.7. The flaw stems from a missing capability check on the fed_admin_setting_form_function() function. Authenticated users with Subscriber-level access or higher can overwrite the plugin's register role setting. By changing the default registration role to administrator, attackers cause subsequent user registrations to receive administrative privileges. This effectively grants the attacker full control over the affected WordPress site once a new account is created. The weakness is classified under CWE-285: Improper Authorization.

Critical Impact

Authenticated Subscriber-level attackers can elevate themselves to administrator, gaining full control over the WordPress installation, its content, and connected data.

Affected Products

• WordPress Frontend Dashboard plugin versions 1.0 through 2.2.7
• WordPress sites with the plugin installed and registration enabled
• Any environment allowing Subscriber-level account creation on affected versions

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-05-13 - CVE-2025-4474 published to NVD
• 2026-04-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-4474

Vulnerability Analysis

The Frontend Dashboard plugin exposes administrative configuration handling through the fed_admin_setting_form_function() function. This function processes settings updates submitted from the plugin's admin interface, including the register role setting that controls the default role assigned to new users. The function does not verify that the caller holds the required administrative capability before applying changes. Any authenticated user, including Subscribers, can therefore submit a request to update plugin settings. By setting the default registration role to administrator, the attacker primes the site for privilege escalation. The attacker then registers a new account, which is automatically granted administrator rights upon creation.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of a current_user_can() capability check inside the settings handler. WordPress provides standard authorization primitives, but the affected handler relies only on the user being authenticated. This is a broken access control failure aligned with CWE-285. The relevant handler logic is documented in the WordPress Frontend Dashboard plugin source and the login tab handler.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires only low-privilege authentication. An attacker registers or controls a Subscriber-level account, then sends a crafted POST request to the plugin's admin settings endpoint that overwrites the register role option with administrator. The attacker then triggers a new user registration through the site's standard registration flow. The newly created account receives the administrator role, granting full control over the WordPress instance. No user interaction from a site administrator is required. Refer to the Wordfence vulnerability analysis for additional exploitation context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-4474

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected changes to the WordPress default_role option or the plugin's stored register role configuration in wp_options.
• New WordPress accounts assigned the administrator role shortly after low-privilege account activity.
• POST requests to Frontend Dashboard admin settings endpoints originating from Subscriber-level sessions.
• Audit log entries showing settings updates from accounts that lack the manage_options capability.

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web server access logs for POST requests targeting the plugin's admin request handlers, especially from non-administrator sessions.
• Compare the current value of the plugin's register role setting against a known-good baseline.
• Alert on creation of new users with the administrator role outside of approved provisioning workflows.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable WordPress audit logging to capture role assignment and option-change events with the acting user ID.
• Track plugin version inventories across managed WordPress sites and flag installations of Frontend Dashboard at or below version 2.2.7.
• Forward web access logs and WordPress application logs to a centralized SIEM for correlation of low-privilege user actions with privilege changes.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-4474

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Frontend Dashboard plugin to a version newer than 2.2.7 that includes the fix from ChangeSet #3290623.
• Audit existing WordPress accounts and remove any administrator accounts that cannot be attributed to legitimate provisioning.
• Reset credentials for all administrator accounts and review active sessions on affected sites.
• Verify the plugin's register role setting and the WordPress default_role option are set to their intended values, typically subscriber.

Patch Information

The vendor addressed the issue in the changeset published at plugins.trac.wordpress.org changeset 3290623, which introduces the missing capability check. Site operators should upgrade to the latest release available through the WordPress plugin repository.

Workarounds

• Disable the Frontend Dashboard plugin until the patched version can be deployed.
• Restrict user registration on the site by disabling the WordPress users_can_register option where business requirements allow.
• Place the WordPress admin and plugin endpoints behind a web application firewall rule that blocks settings update requests from non-administrator sessions.