CVE-2025-31071 is a medium-severity vulnerability classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) affecting the themeton HotStar – Multi-Purpose Business Theme, a WordPress theme used for business websites. This vulnerability arises from incorrectly configured access control security levels, allowing unauthorized users to perform actions or access resources that should be restricted. The vulnerability affects versions up to 1.4, though exact affected versions are not specified. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3, indicating a medium impact. The vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N indicates that the vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network without any privileges or user interaction, with low attack complexity. The impact is limited to integrity loss (I:L) without affecting confidentiality or availability. This suggests that unauthorized users can modify or manipulate certain data or settings within the theme or website but cannot read sensitive data or cause denial of service. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches or fixes have been linked yet. The vulnerability was reserved in March 2025 and published in May 2025, indicating recent discovery. The HotStar theme is a multi-purpose business theme, likely used by small to medium enterprises for their WordPress sites, which may include customer-facing and internal business functions. Missing authorization can lead to unauthorized content changes, defacement, or manipulation of business-critical settings, potentially undermining website integrity and trustworthiness.

For European organizations, especially SMEs relying on WordPress with the HotStar theme, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized modification of website content or configurations. This can lead to misinformation, reputational damage, or disruption of business processes that depend on the website. While confidentiality and availability are not directly impacted, integrity loss can still have significant operational and brand consequences. Organizations in sectors such as professional services, retail, and local government using this theme may be targeted to manipulate public-facing information or inject misleading content. The lack of required privileges or user interaction makes exploitation easier, increasing risk. However, the absence of known exploits in the wild suggests limited current active threat but potential for future exploitation if unpatched. Given the theme’s niche usage, impact is more pronounced on organizations that have not implemented additional access controls or monitoring on their WordPress installations.

1. Immediate review and restriction of access controls within the HotStar theme settings to ensure only authorized users can modify sensitive configurations. 2. Implement WordPress role hardening by limiting administrative privileges to trusted personnel and using plugins that enforce granular access control. 3. Monitor website content and configuration changes through logging and alerting mechanisms to detect unauthorized modifications promptly. 4. Regularly update the theme and WordPress core once patches become available from themeton or trusted security sources. 5. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting theme-specific endpoints. 6. Conduct security audits and penetration testing focused on access control mechanisms of the WordPress environment. 7. Educate site administrators on the risks of missing authorization and best practices for secure configuration. 8. Consider temporary disabling or replacing the HotStar theme with a more secure alternative until a patch is released.