{"id":"CVE-2025-8999","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"Sydney <= 2.56 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Limited Theme Options Update","description":"The Sydney theme for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the 'activate_modules' function in all versions up to, and including, 2.56. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to activate or deactivate various theme modules.","publishedAt":"2025-09-17T11:25:55.832Z","updatedAt":"2026-04-08T17:10:13.080Z","severity":{"score":5.3,"label":"Medium","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N","source":"Wordfence"},"assigner":"Wordfence","products":["athemes Sydney"],"affected":[{"vendor":"athemes","product":"Sydney","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThanOrEqual":"2.56","versionType":"semver"}]}],"references":["https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/965582c6-a52e-4f88-81ef-b5dd761a0c23?source=cve","https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sydney/2.55/inc/classes/class-sydney-modules.php#L166","https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sydney/2.55/inc/modules/class-sydney-modules.php#L72","https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/288374/","https://research.cleantalk.org/cve-2025-8999/"],"weaknesses":["CWE-862"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:10:04.440Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2025/8xxx/CVE-2025-8999.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2025-8999","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2025-09-17T11:25:55.832Z","dateUpdated":"2026-04-08T17:10:13.080Z","assignerShortName":"Wordfence","assignerOrgId":"b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599","dateReserved":"2025-08-13T18:26:47.098Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"Sydney <= 2.56 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Limited Theme Options Update","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"The Sydney theme for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the 'activate_modules' function in all versions up to, and including, 2.56. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to activate or deactivate various theme modules."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"athemes","product":"Sydney","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThanOrEqual":"2.56","versionType":"semver"}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/965582c6-a52e-4f88-81ef-b5dd761a0c23?source=cve"},{"url":"https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sydney/2.55/inc/classes/class-sydney-modules.php#L166"},{"url":"https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sydney/2.55/inc/modules/class-sydney-modules.php#L72"},{"url":"https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/288374/"},{"url":"https://research.cleantalk.org/cve-2025-8999/"}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N","baseScore":5.3,"baseSeverity":"MEDIUM"}}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-862","lang":"en","description":"CWE-862 Missing Authorization","type":"CWE"}]}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"Wordfence","orgId":"b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599","dateUpdated":"2026-04-08T17:10:13.080Z"},"credits":[{"lang":"en","type":"finder","value":"Dmitrii Ignatyev"}],"timeline":[{"time":"2025-08-15T15:11:05.000Z","lang":"en","value":"Vendor Notified"},{"time":"2025-09-16T00:00:00.000Z","lang":"en","value":"Disclosed"}]},"adp":[{"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"timestamp":"2025-09-17T13:06:54.201065Z","id":"CVE-2025-8999","options":[{"Exploitation":"none"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"partial"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}}}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"CISA-ADP","orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","dateUpdated":"2025-09-17T13:07:02.567Z"}}]}}}