CVE-2025-3278: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in UrbanGo Membership Plugin for WordPress

Overview

The CVE-2025-3278 vulnerability is a significant security flaw found in the UrbanGo Membership plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.0.4. This vulnerability allows for privilege escalation, enabling unauthenticated users to register as administrators, potentially compromising the system and leading to data leakage. Given the extensive usage of WordPress and its plugins, the impact and risk associated with this vulnerability are considerable, making this an urgent matter for all users of the affected plugin.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-3278
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

UrbanGo Membership Plugin for WordPress | up to and including 1.0.4

How the Exploit Works

The exploit works by taking advantage of the ‘user_register_role’ field during the registration process. Instead of the system assigning a role to the new user, the plugin allows the user to set their own role. This means that an attacker can create a new account and assign themselves the role of administrator, granting them full privileges and control over the WordPress site.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of a HTTP request that could be used to exploit the vulnerability:

POST /wp-register.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
user_login=attacker&user_email=attacker@example.com&user_register_role=administrator&pass1=password&pass2=password

In this example, the attacker is registering a new user with the username ‘attacker’, email ‘attacker@example.com’, and role ‘administrator’. The ‘pass1’ and ‘pass2’ fields are the new user’s chosen password.

Mitigation Guidance

Users of the UrbanGo Membership plugin for WordPress are advised to immediately update the plugin to the latest version which has the vulnerability patched. For those who are unable to update immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. It is also recommended to regularly monitor the user list for any suspicious activities or unauthorized user accounts.