CVE-2025-5071: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

The AI Engine plugin for WordPress contains a critical vulnerability (CVE-2025-5071) discovered on June 19, 2025. The flaw affects versions 2.8.0 to 2.8.3 and stems from a missing capability check in the 'Meow_MWAI_Labs_MCP::can_access_mcp' function. This vulnerability impacts over 100,000 WordPress websites that have the AI Engine plugin installed (Security Online, NVD).

The vulnerability exists due to improper authorization controls in the Model Context Protocol (MCP) module. The can_access_mcp() function fails to properly validate user capabilities, allowing any authenticated user with subscriber-level access to execute privileged commands. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8 HIGH (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is classified as CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization). The issue specifically affects sites that have Dev Tools and the MCP module enabled—features that are disabled by default but may be enabled by administrators for advanced AI-powered functionality (Wiz, NVD).

The vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access to execute various privileged commands including 'wp_create_user', 'wp_update_user', and 'wp_update_option' for privilege escalation, as well as 'wp_update_post', 'wp_delete_post', 'wp_update_comment' and 'wp_delete_comment' for content manipulation. This effectively enables complete site takeover by malicious users with even minimal authentication privileges (Security Online, NVD).

Site administrators are urged to immediately update to version 2.8.4 of the AI Engine plugin, which includes a patch for this vulnerability. If immediate updating is not possible, it is recommended to ensure that Dev Tools and the MCP module are disabled as a temporary workaround (Wiz).