Blog

"Prevention is cheaper than a breach"

Home / Threats / CVE-2025-12849

CVE-2025-12849 - Contest Gallery Plugin

CVE-2025-12849

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 28.0.2. This is due to the plugin registering the `cg_check_wp_admin_upload_v10` AJAX action for both authenticated and unauthenticated users without implementing capability checks or nonce verification. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary WordPress media attachments into galleries and manipulate gallery metadata via the `cg_check_wp_admin_upload_v10` action. It does not enable an attacker to move or upload files.

CVE-2025-12849

MEDIUM CVSS 5.3 Published 2025-11-15 Updated 2025-11-18
AI Risk Elevated (60/100) Active Exploit: No strong signal Published Exploit: No public exploit references Priority: P3 Priority
Severity Band MEDIUM
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Affected Components 1
Reference Links 7
AI Risk Engine Elevated (60/100)
Exploitability High
Active Exploitation No strong signal
Published Exploit Status No public exploit references

Threat Timeline

  1. 2025-11-15 CVE published and first recorded in the threat feed.
  2. 2025-11-18 Record updated with latest vulnerability metadata.
  3. 2026-04-09 AI technical context refreshed for mitigation and impact guidance.
  4. Now Monitoring for follow-up changes, linked references, and new related CVEs.

AI Context

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AI Updated 6 days ago

AI enriched 6 days ago (2026-04-09 06:18 UTC)

Technical Summary

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 28.0.2. This is due to the plugin registering the `cg_check_wp_admin_upload_v10` AJAX action for both authenticated and unauthenticated users without implementing capability checks or nonce verification. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary WordPress media attachments into galleries and manipulate gallery metadata via the `cg_check_wp_admin_upload_v10` action. It does not enable an attacker to move or upload files.

Potential Impact

Severity is MEDIUM (CVSS 5.3). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.

Exploitability Assessment

Exploitability is assessed as High based on remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites.

Primary risk drivers: remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites

Mitigation Recommendations

Validate affected product versions, prioritize patching, and monitor references for vendor remediation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, apply compensating controls and limit exposure of vulnerable surfaces.

Detection & Monitoring

Track authentication anomalies, unexpected file writes, and suspicious plugin API activity around affected components.

Business Impact Lens

Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.

Affected Products

Contest Gallery PLUGIN · contest-gallery Affected range not specified Fixed version not specified

References

Scroll to top