CVE-2025-14482 is a vulnerability identified in the Crush.pics Image Optimizer plugin for WordPress, which is widely used for image compression and optimization. The flaw stems from missing authorization checks (CWE-862) on multiple plugin functions, allowing authenticated users with minimal privileges (Subscriber role or above) to modify critical plugin settings. These settings include disabling the auto-compression feature and changing image quality parameters, which can degrade website performance or user experience. The vulnerability affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.8.7. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a medium severity level, with an attack vector of network, low attack complexity, requiring privileges but no user interaction, and impacting integrity only. There are no known exploits in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The issue arises because the plugin fails to verify whether the authenticated user has the appropriate capabilities before allowing changes to its configuration, violating the principle of least privilege. This can lead to unauthorized configuration changes that may indirectly affect site functionality or performance but do not expose sensitive data or cause denial of service. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper authorization checks in WordPress plugins, especially those that affect site-wide settings.

For European organizations, this vulnerability primarily threatens the integrity of website configurations on WordPress platforms using the Crush.pics plugin. Unauthorized changes to image compression settings can degrade website performance, increase bandwidth usage, and negatively impact user experience, which could harm brand reputation and SEO rankings. Although it does not directly expose confidential data or cause service outages, the ability for low-privilege users to alter plugin behavior may facilitate further exploitation or unauthorized content manipulation. Organizations with multi-user WordPress environments, such as media companies, e-commerce sites, and public sector websites, are particularly at risk. The impact is heightened in environments where subscriber-level accounts are widely granted or where internal user access controls are lax. Since image optimization affects page load times and resource consumption, unauthorized changes could also increase hosting costs or reduce site responsiveness, indirectly impacting business operations.

1. Immediately restrict Subscriber-level and other low-privilege user roles from accessing or modifying plugin settings by adjusting WordPress capability assignments or using role management plugins. 2. Monitor and audit changes to Crush.pics plugin settings regularly to detect unauthorized modifications. 3. Apply plugin updates promptly once a patch addressing this vulnerability is released by the vendor. 4. Implement a web application firewall (WAF) with rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting plugin configuration endpoints. 5. Limit the number of users with elevated privileges and enforce strong authentication policies to reduce the risk of compromised accounts. 6. Consider temporarily disabling the Crush.pics plugin if immediate patching is not possible and image optimization is not critical. 7. Educate site administrators and content managers about the risks of unauthorized configuration changes and encourage vigilance.