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HighPublic exploit

Authentication bypass / privilege escalation in Post SMTP WordPress plugin email log REST API

IdentifiersCVE-2025-24000CWE-288· Authentication Bypass Using an…

CVE-2025-24000 affects the Post SMTP WordPress plugin through version 3.2.0. The issue is an authorization flaw in the plugin’s REST API permission handling for email log access, specifically described in reporting as the get_logs_permission function. The vulnerable logic checked only whether the requester was authenticated (for example, via a logged-in WordPress session) and did not verify that the user had the required administrative role or capabilities. As a result, low-privileged authenticated users, including Subscriber-level accounts, could access administrator-intended REST API endpoints such as the email log retrieval functionality. Because Post SMTP logs email content, the exposed data could include sensitive messages such as password reset emails for privileged accounts, creating a practical path from low-privilege access to full site compromise.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

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Impact

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

The primary impact is unauthorized access to Post SMTP email logs, resulting in disclosure of sensitive email content. Where those logs contain password reset emails or similar administrative workflow messages, an attacker can use the exposed reset material to change administrator credentials and take over the WordPress site. In practice, the flaw enables privilege escalation from a basic authenticated account to full administrative control. This affects confidentiality of logged mail, integrity of account-management workflows, and overall site integrity.

Mitigation

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

If immediate patching is not possible, disable the Post SMTP plugin or otherwise block access to its sensitive REST API endpoints until the update can be applied. Restrict low-privilege account creation and review existing Subscriber and other non-admin accounts for abuse. Monitor for requests to Post SMTP log-related endpoints, especially email log retrieval paths, and rotate administrator credentials if exposure of password reset emails is suspected.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade the Post SMTP plugin to version 3.3.0 or later. Reporting indicates the vendor patched the issue by restricting sensitive REST API endpoints to users with appropriate administrative privileges and capability checks. After upgrading, administrators should review plugin and web server logs for suspicious access to Post SMTP REST API endpoints and inspect administrator accounts and password reset activity for signs of compromise.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos.

VALID 1 / 1 TOTALView more in app
CVE-2025-24000-exploitMaturityPoCVerified exploit

This repository is a small standalone Python exploit for CVE-2025-24000 affecting the Post SMTP WordPress plugin up to version 3.2.0. The repo contains only two files: a README describing the vulnerability, exploitation flow, requirements, and examples; and a single executable Python script, exploit_cve_2025_24000.py, which is the main entry point. The exploit is not part of a larger framework. The script automates a full authenticated privilege-escalation chain over web endpoints. It logs into WordPress as a low-privilege user through wp-login.php, accesses /wp-admin/ to scrape a WordPress REST nonce from page content, triggers a password reset for a chosen administrator account via wp-login.php?action=lostpassword, then abuses vulnerable Post SMTP REST API endpoints /wp-json/psd/v1/get-logs and /wp-json/psd/v1/get-details?id=<id>&type=show_view to read email logs that should be restricted to administrators. It searches returned log content for a password reset URL containing action=rp and outputs the recovered reset link, enabling takeover of the administrator account. Code structure is straightforward: helper functions implement login, nonce extraction, password reset triggering, log retrieval, email ID extraction, detailed log retrieval, and regex-based reset-link extraction. If log IDs are not present in the initial response, the script falls back to brute-forcing email IDs 1 through 20. The exploit uses Python requests with TLS verification disabled and relies on an authenticated session plus the X-WP-Nonce header for REST access. Overall, this is an operational exploit that provides practical account takeover capability rather than mere detection.

bsdripDisclosed Apr 14, 2026markdownpythonweb
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