Subscriber Privilege Escalation in Genemy <= 1.6.6

Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows attackers with low-privilege accounts to escalate their access to higher privileges, potentially gaining full control of the website. This kind of privilege escalation can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems.

Such unauthorized access and control can result in violations of common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require strict access controls and protection of personal and sensitive data.

Because the vulnerability is classified under OWASP Top 10 A7 (Identification and Authentication Failures), it highlights weaknesses in authentication mechanisms that are critical for regulatory compliance.

Therefore, if exploited, this vulnerability could compromise compliance by exposing sensitive information or allowing unauthorized actions, potentially leading to legal and financial consequences.

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Executive Summary

The WordPress Genemy Theme, versions 1.6.6 and below, contains a high-priority privilege escalation vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-69138.

This flaw allows attackers who have low-privilege accounts, such as those with the Subscriber role, to escalate their access to higher privileges.

By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can potentially gain full control of the affected website.

The vulnerability is classified under OWASP Top 10 A7 (Identification and Authentication Failures) and is considered highly dangerous.

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Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability allows attackers with low-level access to escalate their privileges and potentially take full control of your website.

This can lead to unauthorized changes, data theft, defacement, or the use of your website for malicious purposes.

Because the vulnerability is highly dangerous and has a high CVSS score of 8.8, it poses a significant security risk.

There is also a risk of mass-exploitation campaigns targeting thousands of websites using this theme.

Until an official patch is released, users are advised to apply temporary mitigation rules or update the theme immediately to reduce risk.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability affects WordPress sites using the Genemy Theme version 1.6.6 or below, allowing low-privilege users to escalate their privileges.

Detection involves verifying the theme version installed on your WordPress site to see if it is 1.6.6 or lower.

You can check the theme version by accessing your WordPress dashboard under Appearance > Themes or by inspecting the style.css file in the theme directory.

No specific network commands or scanning tools are provided in the available resources for detecting exploitation attempts.

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Mitigation Strategies

Immediate mitigation steps include updating the Genemy Theme to a version higher than 1.6.6 as soon as an official patch is available.

Since no official patch is available as of the report date, Patchstack has issued a temporary mitigation rule to block attacks targeting this vulnerability.

Users are advised to apply Patchstack's automated vulnerability mitigation solutions or consult their hosting provider or web developer for assistance.

Monitoring and restricting low-privilege user actions until the theme is updated can also help reduce risk.

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