CVE-2025-66166: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-66166 is a Missing Authorization (Broken Access Control) vulnerability in the Lottier for Elementor WordPress plugin developed by merkulove. It allows authenticated attackers with low-level privileges to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. All versions up to and including 1.0.9 are affected. The vulnerability was published on December 16, 2025, and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (Medium) (Feedly, Patchstack).

The root cause is classified as CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) — the plugin fails to properly verify whether a requesting user has the appropriate permissions before executing certain actions or exposing functionality. This allows a low-privileged authenticated user (e.g., a subscriber or contributor) to perform actions that should be restricted to higher-privileged roles. The attack vector is network-based, requires low privileges, no user interaction, and has low complexity, making it straightforward to exploit once an attacker has any valid WordPress account (Feedly, Patchstack).

Successful exploitation results in limited but meaningful impacts to both confidentiality and integrity — an attacker can read data or perform actions beyond their intended privilege level, though availability is not affected. The scope is limited to the affected WordPress installation, but depending on the specific unprotected functionality, an attacker could potentially access or modify plugin settings, Lottie animation configurations, or other restricted content. This could facilitate further attacks such as content manipulation or information disclosure within the WordPress environment (Feedly).

No public proof-of-concept exploit code or evidence of active in-the-wild exploitation has been reported for CVE-2025-66166. The EPSS score is very low at approximately 0.017%, indicating a low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Exploitation requires a valid (low-privileged) WordPress account on the target site, which limits opportunistic mass exploitation (Feedly).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify WordPress sites running the Lottier for Elementor plugin (version ≤ 1.0.9) using tools like WPScan, Shodan, or by inspecting page source for plugin-specific assets.
2. Obtain low-privileged access: Register or obtain credentials for a low-privileged WordPress account (e.g., subscriber role) on the target site.
3. Identify unprotected endpoints: Enumerate AJAX actions or REST API endpoints registered by the plugin that lack proper capability checks (e.g., wp_ajax_ hooks without current_user_can() validation).
4. Send unauthorized request: Craft and send an authenticated HTTP request (with valid nonce/cookie) to the unprotected endpoint to perform restricted actions such as reading or modifying plugin settings.
5. Achieve objective: Depending on the exposed functionality, read sensitive configuration data or alter plugin behavior beyond the attacker's intended privilege level (Patchstack).

• Logs: WordPress access logs showing authenticated POST requests to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with lottier-related action parameters from low-privileged user accounts; unexpected access to plugin-specific REST API endpoints.
• File System: Unexpected changes to Lottier for Elementor plugin configuration files or database options (wp_options table entries prefixed with lottier).
• Process/Behavior: Low-privileged user accounts performing administrative-level plugin configuration changes visible in WordPress audit logs (if an audit plugin is installed).

Users should update the Lottier for Elementor plugin to a version beyond 1.0.9 as soon as a patched release is available from the plugin developer (merkulove). In the interim, site administrators should consider deactivating the plugin if it is not essential, or restricting WordPress user registration to prevent untrusted users from obtaining low-privileged accounts. Deploying a WordPress security plugin or Web Application Firewall (WAF) such as those offered by Patchstack or Wordfence can provide virtual patching to block exploitation attempts (Patchstack).

The vulnerability was discovered and reported by Patchstack, which assigned the CVE and published the advisory on December 16, 2025. CISA-ADP contributed the CVSS v3.1 score. No notable researcher commentary, social media discussion, or broader media coverage has been identified for this vulnerability, consistent with its medium severity and limited exploitation potential (Feedly).