CVE-2025-54697 is a high-severity vulnerability classified under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) affecting the Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer plugin developed by Ben Ritner. This plugin is used within WordPress environments to customize WooCommerce email templates. The vulnerability allows privilege escalation, meaning that a user with some level of access can gain higher privileges than intended by exploiting incorrect privilege assignments in the plugin's code. Specifically, the CVSS vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates that the vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network without user interaction, requires high privileges initially (PR:H), and results in high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The scope remains unchanged (S:U), meaning the impact is limited to the vulnerable component or system. Although no known exploits are currently in the wild, the absence of patches and the high CVSS score suggest that exploitation could lead to full compromise of the affected WordPress site, including unauthorized data access, modification, or service disruption. The affected versions include all versions up to 1.5.16, with no specific earliest affected version stated. Given the plugin’s role in WooCommerce email customization, attackers could manipulate email content, potentially leading to phishing or fraud, or leverage escalated privileges to move laterally within the hosting environment.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant, especially for e-commerce businesses relying on WooCommerce and the Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer plugin. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive customer data, including personal and payment information, violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. This could result in regulatory fines, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust. Additionally, attackers could alter transactional emails, facilitating phishing attacks or fraud schemes targeting customers. The integrity and availability of e-commerce services could be compromised, leading to operational disruptions and financial losses. Organizations with limited WordPress security expertise or delayed patch management processes are particularly at risk. Since WooCommerce is widely used across Europe, especially by small and medium enterprises, the vulnerability poses a broad threat vector.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify if Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer plugin versions up to 1.5.16 are in use. 2) Apply any available patches or updates from the vendor as soon as they are released; if no patch is currently available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin or restricting its usage to trusted administrators only. 3) Implement strict access controls and role management within WordPress to limit the number of users with high privileges, reducing the risk of privilege escalation exploitation. 4) Monitor logs for unusual activity related to the plugin or privilege changes. 5) Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules targeting known attack patterns against WordPress plugins. 6) Educate administrators on the risks of privilege escalation vulnerabilities and enforce multi-factor authentication to reduce the impact of compromised credentials. 7) Regularly back up WordPress sites and test restoration procedures to minimize downtime in case of compromise.