The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-12639 affects the wModes – Catalog Mode, Product Pricing, Enquiry Forms & Promotions plugin for WooCommerce, a popular WordPress e-commerce extension. The root cause is a missing authorization check (CWE-862) on an AJAX endpoint within the plugin, which fails to verify whether the requesting user has sufficient privileges to access sensitive data. This flaw allows any authenticated user with subscriber-level permissions or higher to bypass intended access restrictions and extract sensitive information. The exposed data includes user-related details such as emails, usernames, roles, and capabilities, as well as WooCommerce-specific information like product listings and payment methods. The vulnerability is present in all versions up to and including 1.2.2. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a medium severity primarily due to the confidentiality impact and the requirement for authenticated access. There is no impact on integrity or availability, and no user interaction is required beyond authentication. No public exploits have been reported yet, but the vulnerability poses a risk to organizations relying on this plugin for their e-commerce operations. The lack of proper authorization checks on AJAX endpoints is a common security oversight in WordPress plugins, emphasizing the need for rigorous access control validation in plugin development.

For European organizations, the primary impact of this vulnerability is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, which can lead to privacy violations, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR), and potential reputational damage. Exposure of user emails and roles could facilitate targeted phishing or social engineering attacks. Disclosure of WooCommerce data such as products and payment methods may reveal business-sensitive information and customer transaction details, potentially undermining customer trust and competitive positioning. Although the vulnerability does not allow modification or deletion of data, the confidentiality breach alone can have serious consequences, especially for e-commerce businesses handling personal and payment information. Organizations operating in regulated sectors or with large customer bases in Europe must consider the risk of fines and legal actions due to data leakage. The requirement for authenticated access somewhat limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, as subscriber-level accounts are commonly available or can be created by attackers. Therefore, the vulnerability represents a significant threat to the confidentiality of e-commerce platforms in Europe.

1. Monitor the plugin vendor’s official channels for a security patch and apply updates immediately once available. 2. In the absence of an official patch, restrict access to the affected AJAX endpoints by implementing web application firewall (WAF) rules that limit requests to trusted roles or IP addresses. 3. Review and tighten user role assignments to minimize the number of users with subscriber-level or higher privileges, ensuring only necessary personnel have access. 4. Conduct regular audits of WordPress user accounts to detect and remove unauthorized or suspicious accounts. 5. Enable detailed logging and monitoring of AJAX requests to detect unusual access patterns or data extraction attempts. 6. Consider temporarily disabling the wModes plugin if the risk is unacceptable and no patch is available. 7. Educate administrators and developers about secure coding practices, particularly the importance of authorization checks on AJAX endpoints. 8. Implement network segmentation and least privilege principles to limit the impact of compromised accounts. 9. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all WordPress user accounts to reduce the risk of account compromise. 10. Regularly back up website data and configurations to enable recovery in case of further exploitation.