CVE-2025-5811
📋 TL;DR
The Listly WordPress plugin has an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary transient values stored in the WordPress database. This affects all WordPress sites using Listly plugin versions 2.7 and earlier. Attackers can disrupt site functionality by removing cached data.
💻 Affected Systems
- Listly: Listicles For WordPress
⚠️ 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
Attackers delete critical transient values causing site functionality breakdown, cache poisoning, or disruption of plugin operations that rely on transients for state management.
Likely Case
Attackers delete transients to cause minor site performance degradation, clear cached data, or disrupt specific plugin features that depend on transients.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to temporary cache clearing with minimal operational disruption.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable Init() function endpoint.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.8 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/listly/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find Listly plugin and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify plugin version is 2.8 or higher.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Listly Plugin
allTemporarily deactivate the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate listly
Restrict Access via WAF
allBlock requests to the vulnerable Init() function endpoint
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall rules to block unauthenticated requests to the Listly plugin endpoints
- Monitor WordPress logs for unauthorized access attempts to plugin functions and implement rate limiting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Listly version. If version is 2.7 or lower, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get listly --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Listly plugin version is 2.8 or higher in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to Listly plugin endpoints from unauthenticated users
- Multiple transient deletion events in short timeframes
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=listly_init from unauthenticated sources
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND (uri_path="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" AND parameters.action="listly_init" AND user="-")