CVE-2025-13538 is a critical security vulnerability identified in the FindAll Listing plugin for WordPress, developed by Elated Themes. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management) and affects all versions up to and including 1.0.5. The root cause lies in the 'findall_listing_user_registration_additional_params' function, which fails to properly restrict the user roles that can be assigned during the registration process. Specifically, this flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to supply the 'administrator' role parameter when registering a new user account, effectively granting themselves full administrative privileges on the affected WordPress site. Exploitation requires that the FindAll Membership plugin is also activated, as it handles user registration functionality. The vulnerability does not require any authentication or user interaction, making it trivially exploitable remotely. The impact of successful exploitation is severe, as attackers gain complete control over the WordPress site, enabling them to manipulate content, steal sensitive data, install backdoors, or disrupt services. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 9.8, reflecting the critical nature of this vulnerability with attack vector network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), and full impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). No public exploits have been reported yet, but the ease of exploitation and high impact make this a significant threat. The vulnerability was published on November 27, 2025, and no official patches or updates have been linked at this time. Organizations using the FindAll Listing and FindAll Membership plugins should consider this a high priority security issue.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-13538 can be substantial. WordPress powers a significant portion of websites across Europe, including many small and medium enterprises, e-commerce platforms, and membership-based services that may utilize the FindAll Listing and Membership plugins. Successful exploitation allows attackers to gain administrator-level access without authentication, leading to full site compromise. This can result in data breaches involving personal data protected under GDPR, financial fraud, defacement, or use of the site as a launchpad for further attacks. The integrity and availability of critical web services can be disrupted, damaging organizational reputation and causing operational downtime. Given the criticality and ease of exploitation, attackers could rapidly compromise multiple sites, especially those with outdated or unmonitored plugin installations. The lack of user interaction or authentication requirements increases the risk of automated mass exploitation attempts. Organizations in sectors such as e-commerce, education, and membership services are particularly vulnerable due to reliance on these plugins for user management and content delivery.

To mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2025-13538, European organizations should take immediate and specific actions beyond generic advice: 1) Temporarily disable user registration functionality within the FindAll Membership plugin or the entire plugin suite if possible, until a security patch is released. 2) Audit all WordPress installations to identify the presence of FindAll Listing and FindAll Membership plugins and verify their versions. 3) Restrict or disable the 'findall_listing_user_registration_additional_params' function or override it via custom code to enforce strict role assignment policies, preventing assignment of administrator roles during registration. 4) Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious registration requests attempting to assign elevated roles. 5) Monitor logs for unusual registration activity or new administrator accounts created without proper authorization. 6) Educate site administrators on the risk and ensure timely updates once the vendor releases a patch. 7) Consider isolating WordPress instances or employing least privilege principles on hosting environments to limit the impact of potential compromises. 8) Regularly back up site data and configurations to enable rapid recovery in case of exploitation.