CVE-2025-7733
📋 TL;DR
The WP JobHunt plugin for WordPress (used by JobCareer theme) has an Insecure Direct Object Reference vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers with Candidate-level access or higher to send site-generated emails with injected HTML to any user. This occurs due to missing validation on user-controlled keys in the 'cs_update_application_status_callback' function. All WordPress sites using vulnerable versions of this plugin are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- WP JobHunt plugin for WordPress
- JobCareer WordPress theme
⚠️ 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 could send phishing emails appearing to come from the legitimate site, potentially stealing credentials or delivering malware to users who trust the site's emails.
Likely Case
Attackers send spam or phishing emails to site users, damaging site reputation and potentially compromising user accounts through social engineering.
If Mitigated
Limited to authenticated users only, with email content filtering preventing malicious payloads from being delivered.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access (Candidate-level or higher). The vulnerability is straightforward to exploit once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version 7.8 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://themeforest.net/item/jobcareer-job-board-responsive-wordpress-theme/14221636
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find WP JobHunt plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available. 5. Alternatively, download latest version from theme vendor and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable callback function
allRemove or disable the vulnerable 'cs_update_application_status_callback' function via custom code
Add to theme's functions.php: remove_action('wp_ajax_cs_update_application_status', 'cs_update_application_status_callback');
Add to theme's functions.php: remove_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_cs_update_application_status', 'cs_update_application_status_callback');
Restrict user roles
allTemporarily restrict Candidate-level user registrations or permissions
Use WordPress role management plugin to restrict Candidate role capabilities
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable the WP JobHunt plugin completely until patched
- Implement web application firewall rules to block requests to the vulnerable callback endpoint
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for WP JobHunt version 7.7 or earlierCheck Version:
wp plugin list --name=*jobhunt* --field=version (if WP-CLI installed)Verify Fix Applied:
Verify WP JobHunt plugin is updated to version 7.8 or later in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=cs_update_application_status
- Multiple email sending events from non-admin users
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests containing 'cs_update_application_status' parameter with unusual values
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "cs_update_application_status" AND status=200