CVE-2025-46247: Appointment Booking Calendar Auth Bypass

CVE-2025-46247 Overview

CVE-2025-46247 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability affecting the Appointment Booking Calendar WordPress plugin developed by codepeople. This broken access control vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to access functionality that should be properly constrained by Access Control Lists (ACLs). The vulnerability enables unauthorized users to bypass security restrictions and interact with plugin features without proper authentication or permission verification.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability to access restricted functionality, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification of booking information, and compromise of the WordPress installation.

Affected Products

• codepeople Appointment Booking Calendar versions up to and including 1.3.92
• WordPress installations running the vulnerable plugin versions
• All configurations of the affected plugin without proper access controls

Discovery Timeline

• April 22, 2025 - CVE-2025-46247 published to NVD
• April 29, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46247

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), a critical security flaw where the application fails to perform authorization checks before allowing access to sensitive functionality. In the context of the Appointment Booking Calendar plugin, certain AJAX endpoints or administrative functions lack proper capability checks, allowing any user—including unauthenticated visitors—to invoke these functions.

WordPress plugins typically rely on capability checks using functions like current_user_can() to verify that users have appropriate permissions before executing privileged operations. When these checks are missing or improperly implemented, attackers can directly call protected functions through predictable endpoints.

The network-based attack vector with no required privileges makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous in production WordPress environments, as attackers can exploit it remotely without any prior authentication.

Root Cause

The root cause stems from missing or insufficient authorization checks in the plugin's code paths that handle sensitive operations. The plugin fails to verify user capabilities before executing functions that should be restricted to authenticated administrators or editors. This architectural flaw allows unauthenticated requests to reach and execute privileged functionality.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can identify vulnerable AJAX actions or REST API endpoints exposed by the plugin and craft HTTP requests to invoke restricted functionality directly. The attack can be automated and performed at scale against any WordPress site running the vulnerable plugin version.

Typical exploitation involves:

1. Identifying the plugin's AJAX handlers or administrative endpoints
2. Crafting malicious HTTP POST/GET requests targeting these endpoints
3. Bypassing missing authorization checks to access booking data or administrative functions
4. Potentially modifying appointment records, extracting customer data, or disrupting service availability

For detailed technical analysis and proof of concept information, refer to the PatchStack Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46247

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual HTTP requests to WordPress AJAX endpoints (wp-admin/admin-ajax.php) with actions related to the Appointment Booking Calendar plugin
• Unauthenticated access attempts to plugin-specific API routes or administrative functions
• Unexpected modifications to appointment booking data or plugin settings
• Anomalous database queries targeting booking calendar tables from web server processes

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web server access logs for suspicious requests to admin-ajax.php with booking calendar-related action parameters from unauthenticated sessions
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block exploitation attempts targeting known vulnerable endpoints
• Review WordPress audit logs for unauthorized changes to booking records or plugin configurations
• Deploy runtime application self-protection (RASP) solutions to detect missing authorization bypass attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed WordPress activity logging including AJAX request monitoring
• Configure alerts for bulk or automated requests targeting the Appointment Booking Calendar plugin endpoints
• Monitor for unusual patterns in booking data access or modification timestamps
• Implement file integrity monitoring for plugin files to detect unauthorized modifications

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46247

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Appointment Booking Calendar plugin to a version newer than 1.3.92 that includes the security fix
• Temporarily disable the plugin if an immediate update is not possible
• Review and audit booking data for any signs of unauthorized access or modification
• Implement additional access controls at the web server or WAF level to restrict access to vulnerable endpoints

Patch Information

The vulnerability affects Appointment Booking Calendar versions from the initial release through 1.3.92. Users should update to the latest available version that addresses this missing authorization vulnerability. Check the official WordPress plugin repository or the vendor's website for the patched release.

For additional vulnerability details and patch tracking, refer to the PatchStack Vulnerability Report.

Workarounds

• Implement server-level access restrictions to limit who can access WordPress administrative AJAX endpoints
• Use a Web Application Firewall to filter and block suspicious requests targeting the plugin
• Restrict plugin functionality to authenticated users only through additional security plugins
• Consider temporarily deactivating the plugin until a patch can be applied

# Apache .htaccess configuration to restrict AJAX access
<Files admin-ajax.php>
    <RequireAny>
        Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
        Require ip 10.0.0.0/8
    </RequireAny>
</Files>