Имя плагина	Automation By Autonami
Type of Vulnerability	Повышение привилегий
CVE Number	CVE-2025-7654
Срочность	Середина
CVE Publish Date	2025-08-18
Source URL	CVE-2025-7654

Urgent: Privilege Escalation in Automation By Autonami (FunnelKit) — What WordPress Site Owners Must Do Now

Автор: WP‑Firewall Security Team
Дата: 2025-08-19

Краткое содержание

A privilege escalation vulnerability affecting Automation By Autonami (also distributed as FunnelKit Automations) versions <= 3.6.3 has been publicly disclosed (CVE-2025-7654). The issue allows an authenticated user with the Contributor role to escalate their privileges to higher levels (potentially Administrator) under certain conditions. The vendor released a patch in version 3.6.4. This post explains what the vulnerability means, who is impacted, how to quickly assess exposure, immediate steps to mitigate and remediate, how to investigate potential compromises, and how WP‑Firewall can protect your site now — including how our free plan helps close the gap while you update.

This post is written from the perspective of WP‑Firewall engineers and WordPress security practitioners. It’s designed for site owners, developers, agency operators and security teams responsible for WordPress sites.

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What happened (simple explanation)

• Vulnerable software: Automation By Autonami / FunnelKit Automations plugin
• Affected versions: <= 3.6.3
• Fixed in: 3.6.4
• CVE: CVE-2025-7654
• Attack prerequisite: an account with the Contributor role (authenticated)
• Impact: privilege escalation (Contributor -> higher privileges, potentially Administrator)
• Severity / CVSS: High / CVSS 8.8 (as reported)

In short: a low-privileged account (Contributor) can perform actions that should be restricted to higher-privileged users. Once an attacker obtains Administrator-level access, they can take full control of the site: create admin users, install backdoors, alter content, inject malicious code, and steal data.

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Why this is serious

Contributor accounts are commonly used on multi-author blogs, agencies, and larger WordPress installs. They can create and edit posts but cannot publish or modify plugin settings. This vulnerability effectively breaks the “least privilege” model by allowing those contributor accounts to perform privileged actions that can lead to full site takeover.

Threat actors frequently automate scans that look for vulnerable plugins. Exploits for privilege-escalation issues are attractive because they can convert many seemingly harmless accounts into powerful footholds. The window between public disclosure and widespread exploitation can be short — days or even hours for high-value or high-profile targets.

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Technical overview (what likely went wrong)

While I won’t publish exploit code or step-by-step attack recipes, here’s a high‑level technical explanation for defenders and developers:

• The plugin exposes administrative functionality through AJAX/REST/admin‑post endpoints or other action handlers.
• Those endpoints relied on insufficient capability checks (e.g., checking for a generic capability or relying only on authentication) or they missed nonce verification for state‑changing requests.
• A Contributor account could call the endpoint(s) with crafted parameters and trigger actions normally restricted to administrators or editors.
• The result: modification of user roles/capabilities, creation of new admin users, or changes to plugin/site settings that lead to escalated control.

Root causes commonly include:

• Missing or incorrect use of current_user_can() checks.
• Direct access to critical functionality that assumes only administrators can reach it.
• Lack of nonces or improper nonce verification for AJAX/REST requests.
• Predictable or unprotected action slugs that allowed low-privileged users to invoke sensitive code paths.

If you run the plugin, assume your site is exposed until you’ve confirmed otherwise and taken corrective actions.

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Immediate actions (what to do in the next 60 minutes)

1. Check your plugin version
   Dashboard: Plugins → Installed Plugins → Automation By Autonami / FunnelKit Automations
   WP‑CLI:

   wp plugin get wp-marketing-automations --field=version

   If version is 3.6.4 or later, you have the official fix. Still continue with detection steps below.

2. If you cannot patch immediately, temporarily deactivate the plugin
   Dashboard: Plugins → Deactivate
   WP‑CLI:

   wp plugin deactivate wp-marketing-automations

3. If deactivation is not acceptable, harden access now:
   • Remove or suspend all Contributor accounts you don’t fully trust.
   • Require strong passwords and enable 2‑factor authentication for higher privileges.
   • Limit access to wp-admin by IP (host-level or WAF rule) where feasible.
   • Restrict access to plugin’s admin pages via .htaccess or server rules.
4. Apply the official update
   Update to 3.6.4 immediately when possible.
   WP‑CLI:

   wp plugin update wp-marketing-automations

5. If you run managed security/WAF (WP‑Firewall), ensure the latest virtual patch / rule set is applied (see our guidance below).

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How to detect if you were attacked

Check for these indicators of compromise. Even if you update, attackers active before the patch might have already taken action.

Essential checks:

• New administrator users
  Dashboard: Users → All Users
  WP‑CLI:

  wp user list --role=administrator --format=table

• Unexpected role changes
  Search usermeta for capability changes:

  wp db query "SELECT user_id, meta_key FROM wp_usermeta WHERE meta_key LIKE '%capabilities%';"

  Inspect suspect accounts’ capabilities (wp_usermeta ‘wp_capabilities’).

• Unauthorized changes to plugin settings or site options
  Look for recent modified timestamps in plugin-related database options (wp_options).
  Check the plugin’s settings page for suspicious entries or webhooks.
• Recent logins from unusual IPs
  Inspect server access logs and wp-login.php requests.
  If you have logging/audit plugins, export recent login events.
• Files modified recently
  Use file integrity monitoring (if available), or manually check:

  find /path/to/wordpress -type f -mtime -7

  (Adjust -7 to the timeframe you care about.)

• Scheduled tasks (cron) added by attackers
  Dashboard → Tools → Scheduled Actions (if using Action Scheduler or WP‑Crontrol)
  WP‑CLI:

  wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run

• Strange outbound connections
  Webserver logs showing connections to IPs/domains that aren’t expected.
  Host provider network monitoring will help.

If you find signs of compromise, follow the incident response steps in the next section.

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If you’re compromised — incident response checklist

1. Isolate
   Take the site offline (maintenance page) or restrict access to admin area by IP if possible.
   Create a forensic backup (files + DB) and preserve logs before changes.
2. Identify the scope
   Which accounts were created/modified, what files changed, which scheduled tasks are new.
3. Remove persistence
   Delete malicious admin accounts.
   Remove suspicious plugin/theme files, cron jobs, and custom code injections.
   Revoke API keys and regenerate any exposed credentials.
4. Clean and restore
   If you have a clean backup prior to the compromise, restore it.
   Otherwise, clean the infection with a known-good baseline, or rebuild from trusted sources.
5. Rotate credentials
   Reset passwords for all admin users, FTP/SFTP, database and hosting control panel accounts.
   Rotate any API or third-party credentials.
6. Hardening and monitoring
   Apply the plugin update (3.6.4).
   Re-enable WAF/virtual patching protections.
   Enable file integrity monitoring and nightly backups.
   Add 2FA for all admin-level accounts.
   Audit user privileges and apply least privilege.
7. Post‑mortem
   Document the incident: entry point, impact, remediation steps, and timeline.
   Share lessons learned with team and update incident response playbooks.

If you’re not comfortable performing these steps, engage a professional incident response service or your host for help.

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How WP‑Firewall can help (short and practical)

From the WP‑Firewall engineering perspective, plugins with privilege-escalation bugs are extremely dangerous because they can circumvent site-level protections by abusing legitimate accounts. Here’s how a layered approach with a managed Web Application Firewall (WAF) and our security features reduce risk immediately:

• Virtual patching: WP‑Firewall can deploy WAF rules that block the exploit vectors used by this vulnerability even before you can update the plugin. This prevents exploit attempts from reaching vulnerable code paths.
• Access control: block or restrict access to AJAX, admin‑post, REST endpoints related to a vulnerable plugin based on IP, rate, or parameter content.
• Malware scanner and change detection: identify files and database entries that may indicate a compromise.
• Monitor authenticated misuse: detect Contributor accounts performing actions inconsistent with their role (e.g., requests to admin endpoints).
• Rapid alerts and reporting: notify you instantly when we detect suspicious privilege changes or exploit attempts.

Use WP‑Firewall to buy time: virtual patching and WAF rules are especially valuable in the hours after disclosure and before you can roll out a safe update or perform a full incident response.

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Recommended WAF mitigations (high level)

If you operate a WAF (including WP‑Firewall), we recommend these mitigations while you update to 3.6.4:

• Block or rate‑limit suspicious admin/AJAX requests that manipulate user roles or plugin settings.
• Block HTTP POST requests to plugin-specific admin action hooks unless originating from trusted admin IPs.
• Deny access to known plugin endpoints for logged-in users with Contributor role unless validated with a proper nonce and capability.
• Inspect POST payloads for suspicious fields that the plugin is known to process for role changes and block attempts from Contributor accounts.

Note: WAFs should avoid aggressive blocking that disrupts legitimate author workflows — apply targeted rules and test in monitoring/logging mode before full enforcement if possible.

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Long-term hardening for WordPress sites

Beyond patching, adopt these best practices to reduce blast radius from future plugin vulnerabilities:

• Principle of least privilege
  • Re-evaluate roles and give users the minimal capabilities needed for their tasks.
  • Consider custom roles for limited workflow rather than using Contributor/Author in a permissive way.
• Use role-based access control and review it regularly
  • Quarterly audits of user roles and accounts help spot stale or forgotten users.
• Enforce strong authentication
  • Use strong passwords, password policies and two-factor authentication for all higher-level accounts.
• Plugin hygiene
  • Only install plugins from reputable authors, minimize plugin count, and remove unused plugins.
  • Test plugin updates in staging first when possible.
• Automated updates for security patches
  • Enable automatic updates for plugins that provide critical security fixes if you can test and roll back quickly.
• File integrity monitoring & backups
  • Maintain versioned off-site backups and monitor filesystem changes.
  • Keep backups offline from the main site to avoid ransomware or compromise propagation.
• Logging and alerting
  • Capture audit logs for logins, user changes, plugin installs/updates, and file changes.
  • Integrate alerts into your operations workflow (email, Slack, ticketing).
• Secure development practices (for plugin/theme authors)
  • Properly check capabilities with current_user_can() for all privilege checks.
  • Validate and sanitize all input.
  • Use nonces for state-changing requests, and confirm them server-side.
  • Avoid assuming only admins can call code paths — always check privileges.

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Developer guidance (for plugin authors and integrators)

If you are a developer maintaining plugins or custom code, follow these practical rules:

• Always validate user capabilities with current_user_can() for any action that modifies data, users, or options.
• Use wp_verify_nonce() for POST/GET requests where an authenticated user initiates a state change.
• For AJAX and REST endpoints, validate both capability and nonce and ensure request methods are limited (e.g., only POST for writes).
• Avoid using weak escrow/changeable slugs that can be easily invoked from the front-end by lower roles.
• Treat any authenticated request as potentially hostile: sanitize, validate, and fail safely.
• Implement robust logging for admin actions (role changes, user creation, plugin updates) so audits are possible.

A short code checklist:

• Do not rely on is_user_logged_in() alone.
• Use nonces (wp_create_nonce / wp_verify_nonce).
• Use current_user_can(‘manage_options’) or the more specific capability needed.
• Sanitize all user-supplied data before use.

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How to verify your site after remediation

After updating to 3.6.4 and performing cleaning/hardening, verify:

• No unexpected admin users exist.
• No unexpected scheduled tasks remain.
• File timestamps align with expected updates.
• No suspicious outgoing connections in logs.
• No malicious entries in wp_options or plugin tables.
• Run a full malware scan and a file-diff against a clean copy of WordPress core + active plugins/themes.

WP‑Firewall customers can run quick site health checks and scheduled scans. Our monitoring will highlight unusual admin activity and file changes and give you detailed reports.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Q: I have only Contributor accounts. Am I safe?

A: No — Contributors are the exact risk profile here. If you run the vulnerable plugin, a Contributor account could be used to escalate privileges.

Q: I updated to 3.6.4 — do I still need to investigate?

A: Yes. Updating fixes new exploitation attempts, but it does not retroactively remove any changes an attacker may have made before the patch. Perform the detection checklist.

Q: Can I rely on backups instead of cleaning?

A: Backups are valuable. If you have a clean pre-compromise backup, restoring is often the fastest recovery path. Ensure the backup is clean and rotate credentials after restore.

Q: I cannot update the plugin because my site uses custom plugin extensions — what should I do?

A: Apply WAF virtual patching and restrict access to plugin endpoints. Also audit your custom extensions for unsafe calls or assumptions about user capabilities. If possible, test the updated plugin in staging with your custom extensions and deploy when safe.

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Timeline & attribution

• Published: 18 August 2025 (public disclosure)
• Credited researcher: wesley (wcraft)
• CVE assigned: CVE-2025-7654
• Fixed version released: 3.6.4

If you maintain a site that uses this plugin, treat this as urgent.

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Practical checklist — quick reference (copy/paste)

• ☐ Check plugin version (WP admin or wp plugin get wp-marketing-automations --field=version)
• ☐ Update to 3.6.4 or later (wp plugin update wp-marketing-automations)
• ☐ If unable to update, deactivate plugin: wp plugin deactivate wp-marketing-automations
• ☐ Review and remove untrusted Contributor accounts
• ☐ Search for new admin users: wp user list --role=administrator
• ☐ Inspect recent file changes: find /path/to/wordpress -type f -mtime -7
• ☐ Check scheduled events: список событий wp cron
• ☐ Rotate credentials and API keys
• ☐ Run malware scan and file integrity check
• ☐ Re-enable plugin once fixed and re-verify site integrity

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Protect your site today — Start with WP‑Firewall Basic (Free)

Title: Start Strong: Secure Your WordPress with WP‑Firewall Basic (Free)

If you want immediate, concrete protection while you patch and investigate, WP‑Firewall’s Basic (Free) plan provides essential defenses you need now. The free plan includes a managed firewall, an always-on WAF, malware scanning, mitigation against OWASP Top 10 risks, and unlimited bandwidth — all designed to stop automated exploit attempts and give you time to update safely. Sign up for the free plan and get a protective safety net for your site here: https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/

(If you need automated malware removal, more granular IP controls, virtual patching, or dedicated support, our Standard and Pro plans add those capabilities. But Basic is a great immediate step.)

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Closing thoughts from WP‑Firewall

Privilege escalation vulnerabilities are among the most dangerous issues any CMS site can face because they convert fairly common, low‑privileged accounts into keys for full compromise. The good news is that this particular vulnerability has a vendor patch available (3.6.4). The even better news is that you can combine a quick update with WAF-based protections to dramatically reduce risk in the crucial hours and days after disclosure.

If you are responsible for multiple WordPress installs or run sites for clients, consider implementing automated monitoring and virtual patching so you can mitigate threats the moment they are discovered — not after hours of manual updates.

Take the immediate steps listed above, check your logs, and if you find suspicious signs, follow the incident response checklist. If you want help applying virtual patches or running an investigation, WP‑Firewall’s engineering team can assist — and you can start with our Basic (Free) protection at https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/.

Stay safe, and treat all privilege-related vulnerabilities with urgency — the smallest account can become an attacker’s stepping stone.

— WP‑Firewall Security Team