CVE-2025-48079 Overview
CVE-2025-48079 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Metagauss ProfileGrid WordPress plugin (profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities). The flaw affects all versions up to and including 5.9.5.1. It stems from incorrectly configured access control that allows authenticated users with low privileges to perform actions beyond their intended permission level. The issue is classified under CWE-862: Missing Authorization. Exploitation requires network access and low-privilege authentication but no user interaction. The vulnerability enables unauthorized modification of data protected by ProfileGrid's access control mechanisms.
Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with low privileges can bypass access controls in ProfileGrid to perform unauthorized actions affecting integrity of profile, group, and community data.
Affected Products
- Metagauss ProfileGrid plugin for WordPress
- All versions from unspecified initial release through 5.9.5.1
- WordPress sites using the profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities plugin
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-05-16 - CVE-2025-48079 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-48079
Vulnerability Analysis
The ProfileGrid plugin exposes functionality that fails to verify whether the requesting user holds the required permissions. The plugin provides user profiles, groups, and community features on WordPress installations. Certain action handlers accept requests from any authenticated user without checking role, capability, or ownership context. As a result, low-privilege subscribers or standard members can invoke functionality intended for administrators or group owners. The vulnerability affects the integrity of data managed by the plugin without directly exposing confidential information or degrading availability.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing authorization checks in one or more request handlers within the ProfileGrid plugin. WordPress plugins typically enforce access control through current_user_can() capability checks or nonce validation tied to a specific user role. In vulnerable versions of ProfileGrid, these checks are either absent or improperly implemented for the affected endpoints. This aligns with the CWE-862 weakness pattern where the software does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Attack Vector
An attacker must first obtain valid low-privilege credentials on the target WordPress site. This is trivial on sites that permit open user registration, which is common for community-focused installations using ProfileGrid. Once authenticated, the attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable plugin endpoints. The requests execute privileged actions that should be restricted to administrators or resource owners. No user interaction from another party is required, and the attack can be scripted at scale against affected sites.
See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-48079
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to ProfileGrid group memberships, profile fields, or community settings performed by non-administrator accounts.
- HTTP POST or GET requests to ProfileGrid AJAX endpoints originating from newly registered or low-privilege user sessions.
- WordPress audit log entries showing privileged plugin actions attributed to subscriber-level accounts.
Detection Strategies
- Enumerate installed WordPress plugins and flag any profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities installation at version 5.9.5.1 or earlier.
- Correlate web server access logs with WordPress user roles to identify low-privilege users invoking ProfileGrid administrative actions.
- Deploy a WordPress activity logging plugin to record plugin-level configuration and data changes tied to user identity.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on HTTP requests to ProfileGrid endpoints where the authenticated user role does not match the expected privilege for the invoked action.
- Monitor for bulk registration events followed shortly by requests to plugin action handlers.
- Track unexpected changes to group ownership, membership state, and profile field metadata in the WordPress database.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-48079
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the Metagauss ProfileGrid plugin to a version later than 5.9.5.1 as soon as the vendor publishes a patched release.
- Audit existing ProfileGrid group and profile data for unauthorized changes made by low-privilege accounts.
- Review and restrict open user registration on WordPress sites running the vulnerable plugin.
Patch Information
Refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the latest patch status from Metagauss. Apply the vendor-supplied update through the WordPress plugin management console once available.
Workarounds
- Deactivate the ProfileGrid plugin until a patched version is installed if the affected functionality is not business-critical.
- Restrict access to WordPress admin-ajax and REST API endpoints associated with ProfileGrid using a web application firewall (WAF) rule.
- Temporarily disable new user registration to reduce the attacker pool able to authenticate against the site.
- Enforce strong role separation and remove unused low-privilege accounts that may serve as an attack entry point.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.