CVE-2025-49401 WordPress smart SEO Plugin <= 4.0 - Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Critical 9.8
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-49401 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2025-49401 is a critical vulnerability in axiomthemes smart SEO, published on 5 Sep 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-49401 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: axiomthemes smart SEO. 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-2025-49401/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49401/index.md)
Attackers can escalate privileges due to incorrect privilege assignment in the smart SEO WordPress plugin.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-49401?
CVE-2025-49401 is a critical vulnerability in axiomthemes smart SEO, published on 5 Sep 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in axiomthemes smart SEO smartSEO allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects smart SEO: from n/a through <= 4.0.
Weakness: CWE-266
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-49401?
How do I fix CVE-2025-49401?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-49401 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2025-49401 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-49401 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-cgxm-32gj-cgq2.