Overview
CVE-2025-12169 identifies a medium-severity vulnerability found in the ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or higher to clear the scheduled triggers option, leading to unauthorized modification of data. The affected versions are up to and including version 3.3.0.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from a missing capability check on the wp_ajax_eh_crm_settings_empty_scheduled_actions AJAX Action. This means that any authenticated user, regardless of their role (Subscriber or higher), can trigger this AJAX action without proper authorization. The absence of this check enables malicious actors to inadvertently or intentionally disrupt the helpdesk system’s automated processes by clearing scheduled triggers.
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score for CVE-2025-12169 is 4.3 (Medium). This score reflects the following characteristics:
- Attack Vector (AV): Network (N)
- Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L)
- Privileges Required (PR): Low (L)
- User Interaction (UI): None (N)
- Scope (S): Unchanged (U)
- Confidentiality Impact (C): None (N)
- Integrity Impact (I): Low (L)
- Availability Impact (A): None (N)
While the confidentiality and availability impacts are none, the low integrity impact indicates that the vulnerability can lead to modification of data within the helpdesk system.
Possible Impact
Exploitation of CVE-2025-12169 can lead to several negative consequences, including:
- Disruption of Helpdesk Automation: Clearing scheduled triggers can prevent automated responses, notifications, or other essential processes within the helpdesk system.
- Reduced Efficiency: Manual intervention may be required to compensate for the disabled automation, increasing workload and potentially delaying response times.
- Service Degradation: In severe cases, disruption of automation can lead to an overall degradation of the helpdesk service.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The recommended mitigation is to update the ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System plugin to the latest available version. The vulnerability has been addressed in versions released after 3.3.0. Follow these steps to update:
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
- Locate the “ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System” plugin.
- If an update is available, click the “Update Now” button.
- Verify that the plugin is updated to a version later than 3.3.0.
If an update is not immediately available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin until an updated version is released.
