Critical

Privilege Escalation in WP Freeio process_register()

IdentifiersCVE-2025-11533CWE-269· Improper Privilege Management

CVE-2025-11533 is an unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in the WP Freeio plugin for WordPress affecting all versions up to and including 1.2.21. The flaw is in the plugin's process_register() function, which does not properly restrict or validate the WordPress role a newly registering user may request. As a result, an attacker can submit a registration request containing a privileged role value such as 'administrator', and the plugin will create the account with that role. Because the vulnerable registration workflow is exposed through the site's registration functionality, exploitation can be performed remotely via the public registration form or crafted HTTP POST requests without prior authentication.

For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.

Start free trial

ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to create a WordPress administrator account on the affected site. With administrator access, the attacker can take full control of the WordPress instance, including modifying site content and configuration, accessing sensitive data available through the application, installing or modifying plugins, and establishing persistence. In practical terms, this can lead to complete site compromise and follow-on malicious activity.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, disable public user registration and any WP Freeio registration endpoints exposed to unauthenticated users until the plugin can be updated. Restrict access to registration functionality where feasible, monitor for unexpected account creation events, especially new administrator accounts, and audit the site for indicators of compromise. Because exploitation is possible through direct HTTP requests, mitigation should focus on preventing unauthenticated registration rather than relying solely on UI-level controls.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade WP Freeio to version 1.2.22 or later, as ApusThemes patched the vulnerability in version 1.2.22. Review all existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator or other high-privilege accounts created through abuse of registration, remove any malicious accounts, rotate credentials as appropriate, and inspect the site for post-compromise changes such as rogue plugins, modified content, or persistence mechanisms.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

10 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

10 SOURCESView more in app

the hacker newsNews

Nov 5, 2025

CISA Adds Gladinet and CWP Flaws to KEV Catalog Amid Active Exploitation Evidence

A privilege escalation vulnerability in the WP Freeio WordPress plugin allows unauthenticated attackers to grant themselves administrative privileges during registration.

zeropath blogNews

Oct 11, 2025

WP Freeio CVE-2025-11533 Privilege Escalation: Brief Technical Summary and Version Impact - ZeroPath Blog | ZeroPath

An unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in the WP Freeio WordPress plugin that allows attackers to create administrator accounts and fully compromise affected sites.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

Start free trial

Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity8

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2025-11533

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-11533

MITRE CWE · CWE-269

Improper Privilege Management

themeforest.net

themeforest.net/item/freeio-freelance-marketplace-wordpress-theme/42045416

wordfence.com

wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/0db85f84-04e9-42eb-a16b-96554fbfd186?source=cve