# CVE-2021-25036: All In One SEO < 4.1.5.3 - Authenticated Privilege Escalation

> Low-privileged users can escalate privileges to access protected REST API endpoints, potentially leading to remote code execution on WordPress sites.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Jan 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cf7m-hm28-rpmp

## What is CVE-2021-25036?

CVE-2021-25036 is a high-severity vulnerability in Unknown All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic, published on 17 Jan 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The All in One SEO WordPress plugin before 4.1.5.3 is affected by a Privilege Escalation issue, which was discovered during an internal audit by the Jetpack Scan team, and may grant bad actors access to protected REST API endpoints they shouldn’t have access to. This could ultimately enable users with low-privileged accounts, like subscribers, to perform remote code execution on affected sites.

Weakness: CWE-178 (Improper Handling of Case Sensitivity), CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-25036?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Aioseo All in One Seo.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-25036?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-25036 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-25036 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25036 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic

- [CVE-2021-24307](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-24307/): All in One SEO Pack < 4.1.0.2 - Admin RCE via unserialize (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-25037](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25037/): All In One SEO < 4.1.5.3 - Authenticated SQL Injection (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2025-2892](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-2892/): Cross-site scripting in All in One SEO – Powerful SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2024-3554](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-3554/): Cross-site scripting in All in One SEO – Powerful SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2023-0586](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0586/): All in One SEO Pack <= 4.2.9 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting (medium 6.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-25036 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-25036 is a high-severity vulnerability in Unknown All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic, published on 17 Jan 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25036 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Unknown All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25036/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25036/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25036
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25036
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-25036

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25036/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.