CVE-2025-13613
📋 TL;DR
The Elated Membership WordPress plugin has an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to log in as administrative users. Attackers need only an existing account (which can be created via temp user functionality) and knowledge of an admin's email address. All WordPress sites using this plugin up to version 1.2 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Elated Membership 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 site takeover with administrative privileges, allowing data theft, malware installation, defacement, and backdoor persistence.
Likely Case
Unauthorized administrative access leading to content manipulation, user data exposure, and plugin/theme modifications.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if strong network controls, monitoring, and principle of least privilege are implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires creating a temporary user account first, then using the authentication bypass with admin email.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not available
Vendor Advisory: https://themeforest.net/item/esmarts-a-modern-education-and-lms-theme/20987760
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Immediately disable and remove the Elated Membership plugin. 2. Check for unauthorized admin accounts. 3. Review site for any malicious changes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Plugin
allDeactivate and delete the vulnerable plugin from WordPress
wp plugin deactivate elated-membership
wp plugin delete elated-membership
Disable Temp User Registration
allIf plugin must remain active, disable temporary user functionality in plugin settings
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious authentication attempts
- Enable detailed logging of all authentication events and monitor for unusual admin logins
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Elated Membership version. If version is 1.2 or lower, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get elated-membership --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin is no longer active in WordPress plugins list or has been completely removed.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful admin login from new IP
- User role changes from subscriber to administrator
- Authentication events referencing eltdf_membership functions
Network Indicators:
- Unusual authentication requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with eltdf_membership parameters
- POST requests containing social network authentication data
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("eltdf_membership" OR "admin_login" FROM new_ip) AND user_role_change