CVE-2025-5953 json
WP Human Resource Management 2.0.0 - 2.2.17 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Employee+) Privilege Escalation via wp_ajax_hrm_insert_employee AJAX Action
published 2025-07-04 16 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2025-19920
- cvss
- 8.8
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.4%
- EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 38%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
The WP Human Resource Management plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation due to missing authorization in the ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() functions in versions 2.0.0 through 2.2.17. The AJAX handler reads the client-supplied $_POST['role'] and, after basic cleaning via hrm_clean(), passes it directly to wp_insert_user() and later to $user->set_role() without verifying that the current user is allowed to assign that role. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Employee-level access and above, to elevate their privileges to administrator.
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
- Assessed
- 16 mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.44% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 38% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products
- asaquzzaman WP Human Resource Management
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-862 Missing Authorization
- Technology feeds
References
-
wordfence.com
/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3ba33a18-429f-4a3e-b018-bdfbbe6e8482?source=cve
third-party-advisory
-
wordpress.org
/plugins/hrm/#developers
release-notes
-
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
/browser/hrm/tags/2.2.17/class/employee.php#L89
product
-
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
/browser/hrm/tags/2.2.17/class/employee.php#L543
product
-
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
/browser/hrm/tags/2.2.17/class/employee.php#L591
product
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2025-5953
- NVD CVE-2025-5953
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.
CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.