Overview
CVE-2025-12023 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System plugin. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or higher to restore tickets without proper authorization. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information and potential manipulation of customer support data.
Technical Details
The vulnerability exists due to a missing capability check on the eh_crm_restore_data() function within the plugin. Specifically, the code in includes/class-crm-ajax-functions.php does not verify if the user has the necessary permissions to restore tickets before executing the function. As a result, any authenticated user, even with the basic Subscriber role, can trigger the function via an AJAX request and potentially restore tickets they should not have access to. The affected versions are all versions up to, and including, 3.3.1.
CVSS Analysis
- CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)
- CVSS Vector: AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
This score indicates that the vulnerability is remotely exploitable (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), and necessitates low privileges (PR:L). While there’s no direct impact on confidentiality (C:N) or availability (A:N), the integrity impact is low (I:L) because attackers can modify data by restoring tickets.
Possible Impact
The exploitation of CVE-2025-12023 can have several negative consequences:
- Data Manipulation: Attackers can restore old or deleted tickets, potentially disrupting customer support workflows and hiding important information.
- Unauthorized Access to Information: Restoring tickets might grant unauthorized users access to customer data contained within those tickets.
- Reputational Damage: If attackers manipulate ticket data in a way that negatively affects customer service or reveals sensitive information, it can damage the organization’s reputation.
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 patched in versions released after 3.3.1. Ensure you are running a version that includes the fix. To update:
- Log in to your WordPress admin panel.
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
- Find the ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System plugin in the list.
- If an update is available, click the Update Now link.
If you are unable to update immediately, consider temporarily disabling the plugin until you can apply the patch.
References
WordPress Trac Changeset
Wordfence Threat Intelligence Report
