CVE-2025-11986
📋 TL;DR
The Crypto WordPress plugin has an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to set a site-wide authentication state for all visitors. This bypasses all access controls for crypto-block shortcodes and page-level restrictions, affecting every visitor to the vulnerable WordPress site for one hour. Attackers can also inject arbitrary data into the plugin's database table.
💻 Affected Systems
- Crypto WordPress Plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete bypass of all access controls for all site visitors for one hour, allowing unauthorized access to restricted content and arbitrary data injection into the database.
Likely Case
Attackers bypass content restrictions on pages using crypto-block shortcodes, accessing premium or restricted content without authentication.
If Mitigated
Proper authentication and authorization checks prevent unauthorized access, limiting impact to legitimate users only.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only web access to the WordPress site and knowledge of the vulnerable AJAX endpoint.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.23 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/crypto/#developers
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel
2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins
3. Find Crypto plugin and check for updates
4. Update to version 2.23 or later
5. Verify plugin is active and functioning
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Crypto Plugin
allTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate crypto
Block AJAX Endpoint
linuxBlock access to the vulnerable AJAX endpoint via web server configuration
# Apache: RewriteRule ^wp-admin/admin-ajax\.php.*crypto_connect_ajax_process - [F]
# Nginx: location ~* wp-admin/admin-ajax\.php.*crypto_connect_ajax_process { return 403; }
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable the Crypto plugin immediately
- Implement WAF rules to block requests to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php containing 'crypto_connect_ajax_process'
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Crypto plugin version. If version is 2.22 or lower, the site is vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get crypto --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Crypto plugin version is 2.23 or higher in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=crypto_connect_ajax_process
- Unusual authentication events for crypto-block shortcodes
- Database writes to crypto plugin tables from unauthenticated users
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to admin-ajax.php with crypto_connect_ajax_process parameter
- Unusual traffic patterns to restricted content pages
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" AND post_data="*crypto_connect_ajax_process*"🔗 References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/crypto/tags/2.22/includes/class-crypto-user.php#L95
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/crypto/tags/2.22/includes/class-crypto_connect_ajax_register.php#L65
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/crypto/tags/2.22/includes/class-crypto_connect_ajax_register.php#L9
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/crypto/tags/2.22/includes/class-crypto_connect_ajax_register.php#L95
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f062ef94-e558-478e-bbfd-06616aeb566b?source=cve
