CVE-2025-59133: Projectopia IDOR Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-59133 Overview

CVE-2025-59133 is an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerability affecting the Projectopia WordPress plugin in versions up to and including 5.1.25.2. The flaw resides in the plugin's custom role handling logic, where the application fails to validate whether an authenticated requester is authorized to access the object referenced by a user-supplied identifier. An unauthenticated attacker can reach the vulnerable endpoint over the network and retrieve sensitive data tied to other users or projects. The weakness is classified under CWE-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key.

Critical Impact
Network-reachable attackers can access confidential project, client, or role data managed by Projectopia without authentication, breaking the confidentiality boundary between tenants and users.

Affected Products

Projectopia Core WordPress plugin versions <= 5.1.25.2
WordPress sites using Projectopia for project, client, and team management
Deployments exposing the plugin's custom role endpoints to untrusted networks

Discovery Timeline

2026-06-15 - CVE-2025-59133 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD

Technical Details for CVE-2025-59133

Vulnerability Analysis

Projectopia exposes endpoints that operate on objects, such as custom roles and their associated resources, identified by user-supplied keys. The plugin does not enforce a server-side authorization check that ties the requested object identifier to the requester's privileges. Because the access vector is the network and no authentication is required, an attacker can iterate identifiers and retrieve records belonging to other accounts.

The scope of impact is limited to confidentiality. Integrity and availability are not affected according to the published CVSS metrics, indicating that the vulnerable code path returns or exposes data without permitting modification or service disruption. The classification under [CWE-639] reflects the missing ownership check on objects that are addressable through predictable or enumerable identifiers.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of an authorization layer between request parsing and object retrieval. The plugin trusts the identifier supplied in the request and returns the corresponding record without verifying that the requester has rights to that record. This is a classic IDOR pattern in which authentication state, ownership, and capability checks are decoupled from data access.

Attack Vector

An attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to the affected Projectopia endpoints, substituting object identifiers to enumerate or target specific records. No user interaction is required, and the request complexity is low. Successful exploitation discloses information that should be limited to the legitimate owner or administrator of the referenced object.

No verified public proof-of-concept code is referenced in the advisory. Technical details are available in the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-59133

Indicators of Compromise

Sequential or enumerated identifier values in query strings or POST bodies to Projectopia plugin endpoints under /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or /wp-json/
Unauthenticated requests returning HTTP 200 responses with project, role, or client data payloads
Spikes in outbound data volume from wp-content/plugins/projectopia-core/ handlers to a small set of source IPs

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server and WordPress access logs for repeated requests to Projectopia AJAX or REST routes with varying numeric id parameters from a single source.
Correlate unauthenticated sessions with responses containing structured data fields normally restricted to logged-in roles.
Deploy WAF rules that flag identifier enumeration patterns and high request rates against plugin endpoints.

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward WordPress, web server, and WAF logs to a centralized analytics platform to baseline and alert on plugin endpoint abuse.
Track plugin version inventory across all WordPress hosts and alert when versions <= 5.1.25.2 of Projectopia remain in production.
Monitor for anomalous response sizes from Projectopia endpoints, which may indicate bulk data retrieval through IDOR enumeration.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-59133

Immediate Actions Required

Update Projectopia Core to a version above 5.1.25.2 once a fixed release is published by the vendor.
Restrict access to the WordPress admin and REST endpoints to trusted networks or authenticated sessions where feasible.
Audit recent access logs for evidence of identifier enumeration against Projectopia routes and review exposed data.

Patch Information

Refer to the Patchstack advisory for Projectopia for the current fixed version and remediation guidance. Apply the vendor-supplied update through the WordPress plugin manager and verify the installed version after deployment.

Workarounds

Apply virtual patching at the WAF layer to block unauthenticated requests to Projectopia endpoints that include object identifiers.
Temporarily deactivate the Projectopia plugin on sites that cannot be patched immediately, removing the vulnerable code path entirely.
Enforce least-privilege roles and disable public registration to reduce the population of attacker-controllable sessions.

bash

# Example: block anonymous access to Projectopia AJAX actions at the WAF
# Adjust action names and paths to match your environment
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx /wp-admin/admin-ajax\.php" \
  "chain,deny,status:403,id:1059133,msg:'Block unauth Projectopia IDOR attempts'"
SecRule ARGS:action "@rx ^projectopia_" \
  "chain"
SecRule &REQUEST_COOKIES:/wordpress_logged_in_/ "@eq 0"