CVE-2025-66136 is a missing authorization vulnerability identified in the Merkulove Carter for Elementor plugin, a WordPress extension designed to enhance Elementor page builder capabilities. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.0.2. The core issue is an incorrectly configured access control mechanism that fails to properly verify whether a user has the necessary permissions to perform certain actions within the plugin. This flaw allows an attacker with low privileges (authenticated user with limited rights) to escalate their capabilities and execute unauthorized operations that should be restricted. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network without requiring any user interaction, increasing its risk profile. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 reflects high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, indicating that exploitation could lead to data leakage, unauthorized data modification, or service disruption. Although no public exploits have been reported yet, the vulnerability’s nature and severity suggest it could be targeted in the future. The absence of a patch link implies that a fix may not yet be publicly available, underscoring the need for immediate risk mitigation by affected users. Since the plugin is integrated into WordPress sites, exploitation could compromise website content, user data, and potentially the underlying server environment depending on the attacker’s objectives and additional vulnerabilities present.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant threat to websites built with WordPress using the Carter for Elementor plugin. The potential impacts include unauthorized access to sensitive data, defacement or manipulation of website content, and disruption of web services. Organizations in sectors such as e-commerce, media, and public services that rely heavily on WordPress for their online presence are particularly vulnerable. A successful exploit could lead to reputational damage, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR breaches due to data exposure), and financial losses from downtime or remediation costs. Since the vulnerability requires only low privilege authentication, insider threats or compromised user accounts could be leveraged to exploit this flaw. The lack of user interaction requirement facilitates automated exploitation attempts, increasing the risk of widespread attacks. The impact extends beyond individual sites to potentially affect interconnected systems if the compromised site serves as a gateway or hosts critical business functions.

European organizations should immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify the presence of the Merkulove Carter for Elementor plugin and verify the version in use. Until an official patch is released, restrict access to the plugin’s administrative and configuration interfaces by implementing strict role-based access controls and IP whitelisting where possible. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the plugin’s endpoints. Monitor logs for unusual activity indicative of privilege escalation attempts. Consider temporarily disabling or uninstalling the plugin if it is not essential to reduce the attack surface. Keep WordPress core and all plugins updated to the latest versions to minimize exposure to related vulnerabilities. Educate site administrators on the risks of low-privilege account compromise and enforce strong authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication. Prepare incident response plans to quickly address potential exploitation events. Engage with the vendor or security community for updates on patches or mitigations.