CVE-2025-13309 identifies a missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) in the CodeConfig Accessibility plugin for WordPress, specifically versions up to and including 1.0.0. This plugin provides an easy one-click accessibility toolbar intended to improve website accessibility. The vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to properly verify that a user is authorized to perform certain actions related to modifying global accessibility settings. As a result, any authenticated user with subscriber-level privileges or higher can bypass intended authorization controls and alter these settings. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely without user interaction, as it requires only authenticated access to the WordPress site. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium), reflecting low complexity of attack (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and limited impact confined to integrity (I:L) with no confidentiality or availability impact. Although no public exploits are known, the risk lies in unauthorized configuration changes that could affect site accessibility behavior, potentially undermining compliance with accessibility standards or causing user experience issues. The vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin up to 1.0.0, and no patch links are currently available, indicating that remediation may require vendor updates or manual mitigation steps.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the integrity of website accessibility configurations. Unauthorized changes could lead to non-compliance with the EU Web Accessibility Directive and related regulations, potentially resulting in legal and reputational consequences. Organizations relying on this plugin to meet accessibility standards may inadvertently present inaccessible content or features, affecting users with disabilities. While the vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or disrupt service availability, the ability for low-privilege users to escalate permissions and modify global settings undermines trust in site management and could be leveraged as part of broader attack chains. Given the increasing regulatory focus on digital accessibility in Europe, organizations in sectors such as government, education, and public services are particularly sensitive to such risks. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate the potential for targeted abuse, especially in environments with multiple authenticated users.

1. Immediately restrict subscriber-level and other low-privilege user roles from accessing or modifying plugin settings until a patch is available. 2. Monitor and audit changes to accessibility settings regularly to detect unauthorized modifications. 3. Implement strict role-based access controls (RBAC) within WordPress to limit plugin configuration capabilities to trusted administrators only. 4. Follow vendor communications closely for the release of security patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly. 5. Consider temporarily disabling the CodeConfig Accessibility plugin if it is not critical to operations or if risk tolerance is low. 6. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting plugin configuration endpoints. 7. Educate site administrators and users about the risks of privilege escalation and enforce strong authentication policies to reduce the risk of compromised accounts. 8. Review alternative accessibility solutions with better security track records if remediation is delayed.