Имя плагина	Embedder for Google Reviews
Type of Vulnerability	Access control vulnerability
CVE Number	CVE-2025-54730
Срочность	Низкий
CVE Publish Date	2025-08-14
Source URL	CVE-2025-54730

Embedder for Google Reviews (<= 1.7.3) — Broken Access Control (CVE-2025-54730)

An in-depth analysis and mitigation guide from the WP‑Firewall security team

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On 14 August 2025 a broken access control vulnerability affecting the WordPress plugin “Embedder for Google Reviews” (versions <= 1.7.3) was publicly documented as CVE-2025-54730. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated requests to trigger functionality that should only be available to privileged users. Although assigned a low CVSS score (5.3), the real-world risk depends on how the plugin is used on a given site and whether an attacker can combine this weakness with other issues.

This post is written from the perspective of WP‑Firewall’s WordPress security experts. We’ll explain the technical nature of the vulnerability, why broken access control is dangerous even at lower CVSS ratings, how site owners can detect signs of abuse, and provide robust mitigation strategies — including immediate virtual patching approaches you can implement using a web application firewall (WAF), practical hardening steps, developer guidance, and incident response actions.

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TL;DR (quick summary)

• A broken access control issue in Embedder for Google Reviews (<= 1.7.3) permits unauthenticated users to invoke privileged functionality.
• Affected versions: <= 1.7.3. Fixed in: 1.7.4. CVE‑2025‑54730.
• Required privilege: unauthenticated → meaning an attacker does not need to be logged in.
• Immediate actions:
  • Update plugin to 1.7.4 or later on all sites as soon as possible.
  • If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement WAF rules to block or mitigate relevant endpoints and patterns.
  • Audit logs and site content for signs of abuse (new users, changed options, unexpected content).
• WP‑Firewall users can enable managed protection and virtual patching to mitigate this class of issues automatically.

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What is “Broken Access Control” and why it matters

Broken access control occurs when code exposes functionality that should be limited to certain users (for example admins or editors) but lacks proper authorization checks. In WordPress this commonly manifests as:

• Missing текущий_пользователь_может() checks for capability-based protection.
• Missing or incorrect check_ajax_referer() или wp_verify_nonce() validation on AJAX endpoints.
• REST API endpoints registered without a permission_callback that enforces proper privileges.
• Public files or query parameters that trigger privileged actions (save/update settings, modify posts, change plugin state, create users) without authentication.

Even when a vulnerability is rated “low” by CVSS, the reality on a site-by-site basis may still be serious. An unauthenticated attacker can chain this weakness with other issues (e.g., weak credentials, exposed sensitive endpoints) to escalate impact. For example, the attacker might be able to:

• Modify plugin settings to point to malicious resources (phishing or tracking).
• Inject content that appears within trusted pages.
• Trigger actions that cause additional plugin code to run in insecure ways.
• Enumerate site state or plugin configuration that helps plan further attacks.

Broken access control vulnerabilities are commonly abused by automated scanners and bots shortly after disclosure — so quick action matters.

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Technical analysis (how an attacker might exploit this)

The public advisory for CVE‑2025‑54730 indicates an unauthenticated broken access control issue. While the exact internal function is not provided in public exploit proof-of-concept posts, typical patterns for this class of plugin vulnerabilities include:

• A plugin exposes an AJAX action (via admin‑ajax.php) that performs a privileged operation but does not validate the request origin (no nonce) and does not check user capabilities.
• A plugin registers a REST route with a callback but omits or misconfigures the permission_callback, allowing unauthenticated GET/POST requests to execute the route.
• A front-end file in the plugin receives input from GET/POST and executes logic that should be restricted (updating options, writing files, fetching remote content) without checks.

Attack steps attackers may attempt:

1. Discover the vulnerable endpoint by scanning known plugin file paths (e.g. attempting to access plugin files or actions).
2. Call the endpoint repeatedly to infer behavior (e.g., successful vs. failed response).
3. Use the endpoint to modify plugin settings, create or inject content, or harvest site information.
4. If possible, chain this with further vulnerabilities (weak admin credentials, other plugins with issues) to escalate.

Given the unauthenticated nature, many automated scanners will test these endpoints at scale. That’s why even a “low” CVSS vulnerability can become a high operational risk once scanner signatures are deployed.

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Affected versions and remediation timeline

• Affected: Embedder for Google Reviews <= 1.7.3
• Fixed: 1.7.4
• Public disclosure: mid‑August 2025 (CVE‑2025‑54730)

Remediation: update to 1.7.4 or later. If you maintain many sites or use managed hosting with scheduled update windows, put mitigations in place until you can update every site.

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Immediate steps for site owners (step-by-step)

1. Update the plugin to 1.7.4 (or later) immediately.
   • This is the simplest and most reliable fix.
2. If you cannot update immediately, add temporary WAF protections (examples below).
   • Block requests to the plugin’s known internal endpoints or plugin file paths.
   • Block suspicious POST requests from unauthenticated sources.
3. Harden admin access.
   • Enforce strong passwords and two-factor authentication for all administrator accounts.
   • Limit wp-администратор access by IP when possible.
4. Audit logs and site state for suspicious activity.
   • Check access logs for requests to plugin files, admin-ajax.php or REST endpoints immediately before/after public disclosure.
   • Look for newly created admin or author users, changed plugin settings, or unexpected content.
5. Take a backup before making sweeping changes.
   • Snapshot files and database so you can restore if needed.
6. Run a malware scan.
   • Use a reliable scanner (or WP‑Firewall’s malware scanner if you use our product) to check for suspicious code.
7. Rotate secrets if you find evidence of compromise.
   • Change WordPress salts in wp-config.php, reset admin passwords, rotate API keys used by the plugin or site.

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Detecting exploitation: what to look for

When a broken access control vulnerability is exploited, the attacker’s goal and resulting indicators differ depending on actions available. Look for:

• Requests to plugin-specific files around disclosure dates. Example access-log patterns:
  • Requests to paths like /wp-content/plugins/embedder-for-google-reviews/...
  • Requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php с действие parameters related to the plugin.
  • Calls to REST API routes that map to plugin namespaces.
• Unusual POST requests from unauthenticated IPs that previously did not interact with your site.
• New or modified options in the wp_options table (search for recently changed rows with autoloaded settings).
• Unexpected content injections in posts, widgets, or theme files.
• New users (especially administrative roles), especially if they have generic names.
• Unknown scheduled tasks (cron entries) in wp_options (look at cron option).
• Modified plugin/theme/core files — changes to file modification timestamps on plugin files.

If any of the above are present, treat as suspicious and proceed with an incident investigation (outlined below).

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Incident response checklist (if you detect a compromise)

1. Isolate: If possible temporarily take the site offline or restrict access to admin areas.
2. Preserve evidence: Save logs (webserver, access, error), copies of changed files, and the database state.
3. Rollback: If you have a clean backup from before the compromise, consider a rollback after analysis.
4. Reinstall clean plugin and core files:
   • Reinstall WordPress core and plugins from trusted sources after wiping potentially modified files.
5. Reset credentials:
   • Reset admin passwords, and any API keys or tokens that may have been exposed.
6. Rotate salts and keys:
   • Обновлять AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, LOGGED_IN_KEY, NONCE_KEY в wp-config.php.
7. Scan and clean:
   • Use file integrity checks and malware scanners to detect backdoors.
8. Patch:
   • Update plugin to 1.7.4+ and ensure all other plugins and core are up to date.
9. Report:
   • Notify your hosting provider and, if required, customers or stakeholders.
10. Monitor:
    • Intensify monitoring for 30–90 days, watch for re-infection.

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WAF and virtual patching: exactly how WP‑Firewall can protect you

If you run WP‑Firewall, you can benefit from managed WAF rules and virtual patching that block exploitation attempts even before you update the plugin. For this class of vulnerability we typically deploy the following mitigation strategies:

• Pattern-based blocking:
  • Block unauthenticated requests to plugin-specific endpoints and file paths.
  • Block requests containing suspicious действие parameter values known to be used by the plugin.
• HTTP method restrictions:
  • Deny unauthenticated POST/PUT/DELETE requests to endpoints that should be read-only.
• Nonce enforcement:
  • Require presence of expected nonce parameters/headers for sensitive actions; if missing, return 403.
• Rate limiting and bot mitigation:
  • Throttle or block IPs sending large numbers of targeted requests toward plugin endpoints.
• Geo / reputation-based blocking:
  • Temporarily block traffic from IPs with poor reputation associated with scanning/exploit activity.
• Virtual patching:
  • Create a rule to intercept malicious request patterns and return an error or redirect before WordPress executes the vulnerable code.

Below are sample WAF rule concepts you can implement if you manage your own blocklists or WAF policies.

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Example WAF rule examples (generic, safe patterns)

Note: These examples are templates to illustrate strategy. Test rules on staging before applying in production to prevent blocking legitimate traffic.

1) Block direct access to known vulnerable plugin file path (nginx location):

# Block direct calls to the plugin's admin processing file if present
location ~* /wp-content/plugins/embedder-for-google-reviews/.*(process|ajax|admin|api)\.php$ {
    return 403;
}

2) Block suspicious admin-ajax actions where action= matches plugin actions (mod_security rule style):

# Example ModSecurity rule (conceptual)
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
  "phase:2,deny,log,status:403,msg:'Block unauthenticated calls to embedder plugin actions',\
  chain"
    SecRule ARGS:action "@rx ^(eg_reviews_action|embedder_save|embedder_update)$" \
      "chain"
        SecRule &REQUEST_HEADERS:Cookie "@eq 0"

This rule denies admin-ajax calls to specific plugin action names when no cookies are present (unauthenticated requests).

3) REST route protection: block POST requests to plugin REST namespace:

# Block unauthenticated POSTs to plugin REST endpoints
if ($request_method = POST) {
    if ($request_uri ~* /wp-json/embedder-google-reviews/) {
        return 403;
    }
}

4) Generic heuristic: require WP nonce header for sensitive endpoints (pseudo-rule):

• If endpoint matches plugin API and request lacks header X-WP-Nonce and method is POST → return 403.

5) Rate limit requests by path:

# Example: limit requests to plugin path to 10 per minute per IP
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=embedder:10m rate=10r/m;
location ~* /wp-content/plugins/embedder-for-google-reviews/ {
    limit_req zone=embedder burst=5 nodelay;
}

Important: Do not blindly drop all requests — use targeted temporary rules that protect until the plugin is updated.

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Developer guidance: secure coding patterns to prevent broken access control

If you are a plugin developer or reviewing plugins, the following are mandatory anti-pattern corrections:

1. Always authorize actions:
   • If an operation should be limited to administrators: use current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) (or other appropriate capability) and return wp_die( 'Forbidden', '', array( 'response' => 403 ) ) when unauthorized.
2. Protect AJAX actions:
   • Использовать check_ajax_referer( 'my_action_nonce', 'security' ) for authenticated AJAX or wp_verify_nonce() for other nonces.
   • For unauthenticated AJAX endpoints that must exist, make sure they only perform safe read-only operations.
3. Use REST permission_callback:

   register_rest_route( 'my-plugin/v1', '/update/', array(
       'methods' => 'POST',
       'callback' => 'my_update_callback',
       'permission_callback' => function () {
           return current_user_can( 'manage_options' );
       }
   ) );
   

4. Validate inputs:
   • Sanitize and validate all inputs using sanitize_text_field, absint, esc_url_raw, etc. Reject unexpected types.
5. Principle of least privilege:
   • Only allow what is necessary. If an operation can be performed by editors, do not require administrator privileges unless needed.
6. Logging and audit trails:
   • For sensitive operations, log who performed the action and when. Use these logs to assist incident response.
7. Secure defaults:
   • Use secure defaults in plugin options — do not enable remote injection or auto-fetching of resources without admin approval.

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Hardening and prevention (site owner checklist)

• Keep all plugins, themes and WordPress core updated. If you manage multiple sites, use staged rollouts and automated updates where safe.
• Minimize installed plugins — remove unused or abandoned plugins.
• Limit admin accounts and assign the least privilege required.
• Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for admin accounts.
• Regularly audit access logs and enable file integrity monitoring.
• Maintain reliable scheduled backups kept offsite.
• Use a web application firewall (WAF) with rule management and virtual patching capability to reduce exposure between discovery and patching.
• Use staging environments to test plugin updates before deploying to production.

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How to audit the Embedder for Google Reviews plugin on your site

If you run multiple sites, prioritize the following checks:

1. Identify plugin version on each site:
   • WordPress admin plugins page or command line: wp plugin get embedder-for-google-reviews --field=version (WP-CLI).
2. Search webserver access logs for requests to plugin paths or suspicious admin-ajax actions:
   • Example grep:
     • grep -i "embedder-for-google-reviews" /var/log/apache2/access.log*
     • grep "admin-ajax.php" /var/log/nginx/access.log* | grep embedder
3. Check wp_options for unexpected changes:
   • SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%embedder%';
4. Inspect file timestamps in plugin folder:
   • ls -l --time=ctime wp-content/plugins/embedder-for-google-reviews/
5. Scan for new users:
   • SELECT ID, user_login, user_email, user_registered, user_status FROM wp_users ORDER BY user_registered DESC LIMIT 20;
6. Run an offline malware scan or integrity checker over plugin files.

If you are not comfortable performing these checks yourself, involve your host or a trusted WordPress security professional.

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Sample incident detection queries (database & logs)

• Find recently modified files in plugin folder:

  find wp-content/plugins/embedder-for-google-reviews -type f -mtime -14 -ls
  

• Search for suspicious admin-ajax requests in nginx logs (example):

  zgrep "admin-ajax.php" /var/log/nginx/access.log* | grep "embedder" | awk '{print $1, $4, $7, $9, $11}'
  

• Check for changes in options:

  SELECT option_name, LENGTH(option_value) as len, autoload, option_value
  FROM wp_options
  WHERE option_name LIKE '%embedder%'
  ORDER BY option_id DESC;
  

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Long-term posture: continuous improvement

Broken access control problems frequently reappear in the plugin ecosystem because functionality is often added quickly to meet feature requests. To maintain a secure WordPress estate:

• Establish a plugin vetting process before installation: check developer reputation, update frequency, support responsiveness, and code quality when possible.
• Apply one-click staging updates to test plugin upgrades before pushing them to production.
• Use runtime protection (WAF + file integrity monitoring + malware scanning) in addition to patching and monitoring.
• Subscribe to vulnerability intelligence and make notification workflows so administrators receive timely patching alerts.

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Final notes and recommendations

• Patch first: updating to Embedder for Google Reviews 1.7.4 or later is the primary and recommended fix.
• If you cannot update immediately, apply WAF rules or use WP‑Firewall’s managed protections to block exploitation attempts.
• Always assume automated scans will start after public disclosure; speed matters.
• Combine patching with proactive site auditing and incident response practices: backups, password rotation, file integrity checks, and scanning.
• For plugin developers: test for authorization checks on every endpoint, enforce nonces for AJAX, and use REST API permission callbacks.

If you’d like assistance deploying WAF rules or enabling virtual patching on your site(s), WP‑Firewall’s team can help you implement targeted protections quickly and audit your environment to reduce the risk of exploitation. Our free plan provides immediate baseline protections and helps you keep exposure to a minimum while you patch.

Stay safe, keep plugins updated, and treat access-control bugs as high-priority operational items — the sooner you act, the smaller the window of risk.