CVE-2025-12355: Critical Security Flaw Exposes Payaza WordPress Plugin to Order Status Manipulation

Overview

CVE-2025-12355 identifies a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Payaza WordPress plugin, versions up to and including 0.3.8. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to modify order statuses due to a missing capability check on the wp_ajax_nopriv_update_order_status AJAX endpoint. This means anyone can potentially change the status of orders processed through your website without needing any valid user credentials. This can lead to significant disruptions and potential fraud.

Technical Details

The vulnerability lies within the wp_ajax_nopriv_update_order_status AJAX action, which is intended to be used to update the status of orders. Due to the lack of proper authentication checks (specifically, a missing capability check), this endpoint is accessible to unauthenticated users. An attacker can craft a malicious request targeting this endpoint and manipulate the order status to any arbitrary value. The affected code doesn’t verify if the request originates from a legitimate, authorized user with the necessary permissions to modify order statuses. This direct access to the functionality without authentication is the core of the problem.

CVSS Analysis

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) assigns CVE-2025-12355 a score of 5.3, classifying it as a MEDIUM severity vulnerability. The CVSS vector is likely something like: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N. This breaks down as follows:

• AV:N (Attack Vector: Network): The vulnerability is exploitable over the network.
• AC:L (Attack Complexity: Low): The vulnerability is easy to exploit.
• PR:N (Privileges Required: None): No privileges are required to exploit the vulnerability.
• UI:N (User Interaction: None): No user interaction is required.
• S:U (Scope: Unchanged): An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority.
• C:N (Confidentiality: None): There is no impact to confidentiality.
• I:L (Integrity: Low): There is limited integrity impact.
• A:N (Availability: None): There is no impact to availability.

While the confidentiality and availability impacts are none, the low integrity impact can still have serious consequences, as detailed below.

Possible Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-12355 can lead to various negative consequences:

• Order Status Manipulation: Attackers can change order statuses (e.g., marking an unpaid order as “Completed” or a legitimate order as “Cancelled”).
• Financial Loss: Manipulating order statuses could lead to incorrect payment processing and financial losses for the website owner.
• Reputational Damage: Incorrect order statuses can lead to customer dissatisfaction and damage the reputation of the website.
• Supply Chain Disruptions: Incorrect order statuses can affect the fulfillment process and disrupt the supply chain.
• Fraud: Attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to facilitate fraudulent activities.

Mitigation and Patch Steps

The primary mitigation is to update the Payaza plugin to the latest version as soon as possible. The vendor has likely released a patched version addressing this vulnerability. If a patch is not yet available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin until an update is released.

Here’s a breakdown of the recommended steps:

1. Check for Updates: In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Plugins” and check for available updates for the Payaza plugin.
2. Update Plugin: If an update is available, install it immediately.
3. Verify Update: After updating, verify that the plugin version is greater than 0.3.8.
4. Monitor Activity: Keep an eye on your order logs for any suspicious activity.
5. WAF (Web Application Firewall): Consider implementing a WAF with rules that can detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability, even if you are unable to update the plugin immediately.

References

• Payaza Plugin on WordPress.org
• Wordfence Threat Intelligence Report