CVE-2025-15482 is a vulnerability categorized under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) found in the Chapa Payment Gateway Plugin for WooCommerce, a WordPress plugin used to facilitate payments via the Chapa service. The vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 1.0.3 and is exploitable through the 'chapa_proceed' WooCommerce API endpoint. This endpoint improperly exposes sensitive data, specifically the merchant's secret API key, without requiring any authentication or user interaction. The secret API key is critical for authenticating payment transactions and managing merchant accounts within the Chapa payment infrastructure. An attacker who obtains this key could potentially impersonate the merchant, initiate fraudulent transactions, or disrupt payment processing. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3 (medium severity), reflecting that the vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network (AV:N), requires no privileges (PR:N), and no user interaction (UI:N), but only impacts confidentiality (C:L) without affecting integrity or availability. No patches or fixes are currently linked, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date. The vulnerability's root cause is insufficient access control on the API endpoint, allowing unauthenticated requests to retrieve sensitive configuration data. This issue highlights the importance of securing API endpoints and properly restricting access to sensitive credentials in e-commerce plugins.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of payment gateway credentials, which can lead to unauthorized financial transactions, fraud, and reputational damage. Exposure of the merchant's secret API key could allow attackers to impersonate legitimate merchants, manipulate payment flows, or extract further sensitive customer data indirectly. This risk is particularly acute for e-commerce businesses relying on WooCommerce with the Chapa Payment Gateway plugin, as compromised credentials can undermine customer trust and lead to regulatory scrutiny under GDPR for inadequate protection of payment information. Although the vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, the potential downstream effects of fraudulent transactions and financial loss can be severe. Organizations may also face compliance challenges and financial penalties if customer payment data is indirectly compromised. The lack of authentication and user interaction requirements makes exploitation straightforward, increasing the likelihood of automated scanning and attacks. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests the vulnerability is newly disclosed, providing a critical window for proactive mitigation.

1. Immediately restrict access to the 'chapa_proceed' WooCommerce API endpoint by implementing IP whitelisting, firewall rules, or web application firewall (WAF) policies to block unauthenticated external requests. 2. Monitor server logs and WooCommerce API access patterns for unusual or repeated requests targeting the vulnerable endpoint to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 3. Remove or disable the Chapa Payment Gateway plugin if it is not essential to business operations until a patched version is released. 4. Contact the plugin vendor (chapaet) to inquire about planned patches or updates and apply them promptly once available. 5. Rotate the merchant's secret API keys immediately if there is any suspicion of compromise to invalidate exposed credentials. 6. Implement strict access controls and authentication mechanisms on all payment-related API endpoints to prevent unauthorized data exposure. 7. Educate development and security teams about secure plugin management and the risks of exposing sensitive keys in API responses. 8. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or enhanced logging to detect anomalous API usage in real-time. 9. Review and audit all third-party plugins for similar exposure risks to prevent future incidents. 10. Ensure compliance with GDPR and PCI DSS requirements by documenting the vulnerability, mitigation steps, and any incidents of data exposure.