CVE-2025-57997: Trustpilot Reviews Authorization Bypass

CVE-2025-57997 Overview

CVE-2025-57997 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Trustpilot Reviews plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions of trustpilot-reviews up to and including 2.5.925. It is categorized under [CWE-862] Missing Authorization and stems from incorrectly configured access control on plugin functionality.

An authenticated attacker with low privileges can invoke plugin actions that should be restricted to higher-privileged users. Successful exploitation results in limited disclosure of information handled by the plugin without impacting integrity or availability.

Critical Impact

Authenticated low-privilege users can bypass access control checks in the Trustpilot Reviews plugin and interact with restricted plugin functionality on affected WordPress sites.

Affected Products

• Trustpilot Reviews WordPress plugin (trustpilot-reviews) versions through 2.5.925
• WordPress sites with the vulnerable plugin installed and activated
• Multi-site WordPress deployments where subscribers or contributors have plugin access

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-09-22 - CVE-2025-57997 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-57997

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability originates in the Trustpilot Reviews plugin's request handlers, which fail to enforce capability checks before executing sensitive actions. WordPress plugins are expected to validate the caller's role using current_user_can() and to verify nonces on state-changing requests. The plugin omits or incorrectly implements these checks on one or more endpoints.

An attacker who holds any authenticated session on the target site can invoke the affected endpoints. Because the CVSS vector indicates confidentiality impact only, the exposure is limited to reading plugin-managed data rather than modifying site configuration.

The issue is representative of broken access control patterns common in WordPress plugin ecosystems. Refer to the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Advisory for advisory-level details.

Root Cause

The root cause is a missing authorization check on plugin actions. The code path executes without validating whether the requesting user has the capability required to perform the operation. This bypasses the WordPress role and capability model that would normally restrict access to administrators or editors.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires an authenticated account on the target WordPress site. An attacker submits a crafted request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint from a low-privilege session such as a subscriber. The plugin processes the request and returns data or performs an action that should have been restricted.

No user interaction from a victim is required, and exploitation complexity is low. Public exploit code is not currently listed for this CVE. See the Patchstack advisory for technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-57997

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected requests to Trustpilot Reviews plugin endpoints under /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or plugin-specific routes originating from low-privilege user sessions.
• Access log entries showing subscriber or contributor accounts invoking plugin actions typically issued only by administrators.
• Bursts of authenticated requests to the plugin from a single IP address or user agent.

Detection Strategies

• Inventory WordPress installations and identify sites running trustpilot-reviews at version 2.5.925 or earlier.
• Correlate WordPress user roles with request patterns to the plugin's endpoints to detect capability mismatches.
• Alert on repeated 200-OK responses to plugin endpoints from accounts that should not have access.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Ship WordPress access logs and wp-content audit events to a centralized logging platform for role-based analysis.
• Enable a WordPress audit-logging plugin to record authenticated actions performed by each user role.
• Monitor plugin version inventories continuously and flag installations that fall outside the patched release baseline.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-57997

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Trustpilot Reviews plugin to a version later than 2.5.925 as soon as the vendor releases a fix.
• Audit existing WordPress user accounts and remove or downgrade unused subscriber, contributor, and author accounts.
• Restrict new user registration on public-facing WordPress sites where it is not required.

Patch Information

As of publication, the vulnerability is documented against versions through 2.5.925. Consult the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Advisory and the plugin's changelog on the WordPress plugin repository for the fixed version and update instructions.

Workarounds

• Deactivate the Trustpilot Reviews plugin until a patched version is installed.
• Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks unauthenticated and low-privilege access to the plugin's action endpoints.
• Enforce two-factor authentication and strong password policies to reduce the value of low-privilege account compromise.

# Configuration example
# Identify vulnerable plugin installations using WP-CLI
wp plugin list --name=trustpilot-reviews --fields=name,status,version

# Deactivate the plugin as an interim mitigation
wp plugin deactivate trustpilot-reviews

# Update to the latest available version once released
wp plugin update trustpilot-reviews