CVE-2025-12981
Received Received - Intake

Privilege Escalation in Listee WordPress Theme via User Role Manipulation

Publication date: 2026-02-27

Last updated on: 2026-02-27

Assigner: Wordfence

Description
The Listee theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.6. This is due to a broken validation check in the bundled listee-core plugin's user registration function that fails to properly sanitize the user_role parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register as Administrator by manipulating the user_role parameter during registration.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-02-27
Last Modified
2026-02-27
Generated
2026-07-26
AI Q&A
2026-02-27
EPSS Evaluated
2026-07-25
NVD
CVE-2025-12981
EUVD
EUVD-2025-208125

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
listee theme to 1.1.6 (inc)
listee-core plugin to 1.1.6 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-269 The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

The Listee theme for WordPress contains a vulnerability in all versions up to and including 1.1.6. This vulnerability arises from a broken validation check in the bundled listee-core plugin's user registration function. Specifically, the function fails to properly sanitize the user_role parameter, which allows unauthenticated attackers to manipulate this parameter during registration.

As a result, attackers can register themselves as Administrators without any authentication, effectively escalating their privileges on the affected WordPress site.

Detection Guidance

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can have severe impacts because it allows unauthenticated attackers to gain Administrator access to a WordPress site using the Listee theme (up to version 1.1.6).

  • Attackers can fully control the website, including modifying content, installing malicious plugins or themes, and accessing sensitive data.
  • It can lead to data breaches, defacement, or the site being used as a platform for further attacks.
  • The high CVSS score of 9.8 indicates a critical severity with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Compliance Impact

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Mitigation Strategies

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