CVE-2025-5953: WP Human Resource Management Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-5953 Overview

CVE-2025-5953 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the WP Human Resource Management plugin for WordPress, affecting versions 2.0.0 through 2.2.17. The flaw resides in the ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() functions, which accept a client-supplied role parameter without verifying that the requesting user is authorized to assign it. Authenticated attackers with Employee-level access or higher can escalate their privileges to administrator. The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-862] (Missing Authorization) and impacts WordPress sites operated by the mishubd vendor's HR plugin.

Critical Impact
Authenticated low-privileged users can elevate to administrator, enabling full takeover of the affected WordPress site.

Affected Products

WP Human Resource Management plugin versions 2.0.0 through 2.2.17
WordPress sites running the mishubd/hrm plugin
Any deployment exposing the plugin's AJAX endpoints to authenticated users

Discovery Timeline

2025-07-04 - CVE-2025-5953 published to NVD
2025-08-13 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-5953

Vulnerability Analysis

The WP Human Resource Management plugin exposes AJAX handlers for creating and updating employee records. Both ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() accept a role value from the $_POST payload submitted by the client. The handlers sanitize the value with hrm_clean() and pass it directly to WordPress core functions wp_insert_user() and $user->set_role(). No capability check confirms whether the requesting user holds the promote_users or edit_users capability required to assign elevated roles. As a result, a user authenticated at Employee level can submit a crafted request containing role=administrator and obtain administrator privileges on the site.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing authorization on role-assignment paths. The plugin treats authentication as sufficient and does not differentiate between an HR operator empowered to manage staff and a low-privileged employee. Sanitization via hrm_clean() removes unsafe characters but does not constrain the role value to an allow-list, so any valid WordPress role string is accepted and applied.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires only a valid authenticated session with Employee-level access. The attacker submits a POST request to the plugin's AJAX endpoint with a role field set to administrator. The handler creates or updates a user record with the chosen role, granting the attacker administrator capabilities. The attacker can then install malicious plugins, modify content, exfiltrate data, or pivot to the underlying server.

No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the WordPress Plugin Code Snippet for technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-5953

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected new WordPress accounts with the administrator role created through the hrm plugin's AJAX endpoint
Role changes on existing user accounts that did not originate from Users > Edit User in wp-admin
POST requests to admin-ajax.php containing action=hrm_* parameters together with role=administrator
Newly installed plugins or themes following an HR plugin AJAX interaction in access logs

Detection Strategies

Audit the WordPress wp_users and wp_usermeta tables for accounts whose wp_capabilities value changed after July 2025
Inspect web server access logs for admin-ajax.php requests carrying the role POST parameter from low-privileged sessions
Correlate plugin AJAX activity with subsequent privileged actions such as plugin installation or option changes

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress activity logging that records role assignments and user creation events with the originating account
Forward web access logs and WordPress audit events into a centralized analytics platform for behavioral review
Alert on any non-administrator session that triggers a role change or user creation event

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-5953

Immediate Actions Required

Update the WP Human Resource Management plugin to a version newer than 2.2.17 once the vendor publishes a fix
Review all WordPress accounts and downgrade or remove any unauthorized administrator users
Rotate credentials for all administrator accounts and invalidate active sessions
Restrict access to the WordPress site so that only trusted users hold Employee-level roles

Patch Information

No fixed version was identified in the NVD record at publication time. Site operators should monitor the WordPress Plugin Developer Page for a release that introduces capability checks on the ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() handlers. The fix should validate that the requesting user holds promote_users and constrain the assignable role value to an explicit allow-list.

Workarounds

Deactivate the WP Human Resource Management plugin until a patched release is available
Apply a Web Application Firewall rule that blocks POST requests to admin-ajax.php carrying both an hrm action and a role parameter equal to administrator, editor, or author
Use a custom mu-plugin to short-circuit the vulnerable AJAX actions for non-privileged users with a capability check on promote_users

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block role escalation attempts
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
  "chain,deny,status:403,id:1005953,msg:'CVE-2025-5953 HRM role escalation attempt'"
  SecRule ARGS:action "@rx ^hrm_" "chain"
    SecRule ARGS:role "@rx ^(administrator|editor|author)$"