CVE-2025-8944VulnerabilityPublished 5 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-8944: OceanWP (WordPress theme) · Incorrect Authorization

Affects OceanWP (WordPress theme)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 13% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
OceanWP	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should promptly update the OceanWP theme to version 4.1.2 or later once available. Until then, administrators should restrict user roles and capabilities carefully, minimizing the number of users with authenticated access, especially subscriber or similar low-privilege accounts. Implementing strict user role audits and removing unnecessary accounts can reduce the attack surface. Additionally, monitoring AJAX requests and theme option changes via web application firewalls (WAFs) or security plugins can help detect suspicious activity. Organizations should also consider disabling AJAX handlers related to theme option updates if feasible or applying custom patches that enforce capability checks on these handlers. Regular backups of website configurations and themes will facilitate recovery if unauthorized changes occur. Finally, educating users about the risks of unauthorized access and enforcing strong authentication mechanisms (e.g., MFA) will further reduce exploitation chances.

Description

The OceanWP WordPress theme before 4.1.2 is vulnerable to an option update due to a missing capability check on one of its AJAX request handler, allowing any authenticated users, such as subscriber to update the darkMod` setting.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to websites using the OceanWP theme that have multiple user roles with authenticated access, including subscriber-level accounts. The ability for low-privileged users to change theme settings could undermine the integrity of the website's presentation, potentially damaging brand reputation or user trust. While the direct impact on data confidentiality and availability is minimal, altered UI settings could be abused for deceptive purposes, such as misleading visitors or facilitating phishing attacks. Organizations in sectors with strict compliance requirements (e.g., finance, healthcare) may face regulatory scrutiny if such unauthorized changes lead to misinformation or user harm. Additionally, websites that serve as customer-facing portals or e-commerce platforms could experience indirect financial impacts due to loss of user confidence. The risk is heightened in environments where user account management is lax or where subscriber accounts are widely distributed. Since the vulnerability requires authenticated access, organizations with strong access control policies and monitoring may reduce exploitation likelihood, but those with open registration or weak user management are more vulnerable.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

wpscan.com/vulnerability/cf77b7f2-525b-4fe8-b612-185a1c18c197/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 5 Sep 2025, 16:21 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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