CVE-2025-4571 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform for WordPress, versions up to and including 4.3.0. The vulnerability stems from a missing authorization check (CWE-862) in the permissionsCheck functions, which are responsible for verifying user capabilities before allowing access to sensitive operations. Due to this insufficient capability validation, authenticated users with Contributor-level access or higher can bypass intended restrictions and perform unauthorized actions. Specifically, such attackers can view or delete fundraising campaigns, access donors' personal data, and modify campaign events. The vulnerability does not require user interaction beyond authentication, and the attack vector is network-based (remote exploitation via the web interface). The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium), reflecting low complexity of attack (AC:L), requiring low privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and limited impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:L/I:L) but no impact on availability (A:N). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The vulnerability affects all versions of the GiveWP plugin up to 4.3.0, which is widely used by non-profit organizations, charities, and fundraising entities to manage donations and campaigns on WordPress sites. The core issue is the lack of proper authorization checks allowing privilege escalation within the application context, potentially exposing sensitive donor information and enabling unauthorized campaign manipulation, which could undermine trust and cause reputational damage.

For European organizations, particularly non-profits, charities, and fundraising platforms utilizing the GiveWP plugin on WordPress, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to data confidentiality and integrity. Unauthorized access to donor data could lead to privacy violations under GDPR, resulting in legal penalties and loss of donor trust. The ability to modify or delete fundraising campaigns could disrupt fundraising activities, causing financial losses and operational setbacks. Since Contributor-level users can exploit this flaw, insider threats or compromised contributor accounts could be leveraged for malicious purposes. The impact extends beyond data exposure to potential reputational damage, which is critical for organizations relying on public goodwill. Given the widespread adoption of WordPress and GiveWP in Europe’s non-profit sector, the vulnerability could affect a broad range of organizations, from small local charities to large pan-European NGOs. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the ease of exploitation and the sensitivity of the data involved necessitate prompt remediation.

1. Immediate upgrade to the latest version of the GiveWP plugin once a patch addressing CVE-2025-4571 is released. Monitor vendor announcements closely for patch availability. 2. Until a patch is available, restrict Contributor-level and higher access to trusted users only, minimizing the number of users with permissions to create or modify campaigns. 3. Implement strict role-based access controls (RBAC) within WordPress to limit permissions and audit user roles regularly. 4. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting GiveWP endpoints, especially those attempting unauthorized data access or deletion. 5. Conduct regular security audits and monitoring of logs for unusual activity related to campaign management or donor data access. 6. Educate administrators and contributors about the risks of privilege misuse and enforce strong authentication mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), to reduce the risk of account compromise. 7. Backup fundraising campaign data and donor information regularly to enable recovery in case of unauthorized deletions or modifications. 8. Review and tighten WordPress security configurations, including limiting plugin installations to trusted sources and disabling unnecessary features that could be exploited.