Urgent: AL Pack plugin (<= 1.0.2) — Broken Access Control allows unauthenticated premium feature activation (CVE-2025-7664)

Date: 15 August 2025  |  Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)  |  Affected: AL Pack Plugin ≤ 1.0.2  |  Exploitability: Unauthenticated — trivial to automate  |  Reported by: independent researcher

Summary (Hong Kong security expert advisory): AL Pack contains a broken access control issue in a function used to activate premium features (commonly referenced as check_activate_permission). The function can be triggered by unauthenticated, web-facing requests, allowing an attacker to enable premium capabilities that should require a licensed, authenticated user. This is trivial to automate and should be treated as high risk for sites running the vulnerable versions.

What happened (summary)

The AL Pack plugin exposes an activation routine that does not verify the identity or capabilities of the caller. An unauthenticated HTTP request can invoke the activation flow and set flags/options that enable premium features. Those features may register additional endpoints, run integrations, or elevate capabilities — all of which increase attack surface and can be chained with other vulnerabilities.

Because no authentication or nonce verification is present, remote attackers can scan and mass-exploit sites running AL Pack ≤ 1.0.2. Treat installations of this version as high-risk until corrected.

Technical analysis — what the bug looks like

Common causes of broken access control in WordPress plugins include:

• Registering AJAX actions or REST routes without authentication or appropriate capability checks.
• Using GET parameters or unauthenticated POSTs to change persistent site state.
• Relying on secret or obscure parameter names instead of true authorization.

In this issue the activation function appears to update options or invoke licensing logic without checking current_user_can(), verifying a nonce, or enforcing authenticated routes. Vulnerable patterns look like:

Hypothetical vulnerable pseudo-code

// Vulnerable: no authentication or capability check
function check_activate_permission() {
    if ( isset( $_GET['activate_premium'] ) ) {
        // enable premium features
        update_option( 'alpack_premium_active', 1 );
        // maybe write license key or enable endpoints
    }
}
add_action( 'init', 'check_activate_permission' );

// Vulnerable if registered without proper permission callback
add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_alpack_activate', 'alpack_activate' );
function alpack_activate() {
    // No check_ajax_referer, no current_user_can
    $license = sanitize_text_field( $_POST['license'] ?? '' );
    update_option( 'alpack_license_key', $license );
    update_option( 'alpack_premium_active', 1 );
    wp_send_json_success();
}

Either of the above allows an unauthenticated request to flip an option and enable premium features.

Example of secure fix

Actions that modify site state must enforce authentication and capability checks, validate nonces, and restrict to appropriate HTTP methods. Example safe approaches follow WordPress best practices.

// Secure: enforce authentication and capability
add_action( 'admin_post_alpack_activate', 'alpack_activate' ); // only for logged-in users
function alpack_activate() {
    if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) {
        wp_die( 'Unauthorized', '403', array( 'response' => 403 ) );
    }

    if ( ! isset( $_POST['_wpnonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['_wpnonce'], 'alpack_activate_nonce' ) ) {
        wp_die( 'Nonce verification failed', '403', array( 'response' => 403 ) );
    }

    $license = sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_POST['license'] ?? '' ) );
    update_option( 'alpack_license_key', $license );
    update_option( 'alpack_premium_active', 1 );
    wp_redirect( admin_url( 'plugins.php?activated=true' ) );
    exit;
}

add_action( 'wp_ajax_alpack_activate', 'alpack_activate_ajax' );
function alpack_activate_ajax() {
    check_ajax_referer( 'alpack_activate_nonce', 'security' );
    if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) {
        wp_send_json_error( 'Insufficient permissions', 403 );
    }
    // ... handle activation
}

register_rest_route( 'alpack/v1', '/activate', array(
    'methods' => 'POST',
    'callback' => 'alpack_rest_activate',
    'permission_callback' => function ( $request ) {
        return current_user_can( 'manage_options' );
    }
) );

Key points: require POST for state changes, validate nonces, enforce capability checks, and sanitize inputs.

Exploitation scenarios & impact

• Enable additional endpoints or callbacks — premium modules may open new admin pages or REST endpoints that increase attack surface.
• Bypass licensing — attackers can enable paid features without payment, sometimes exposing integrations that handle secrets or other privileged actions.
• Combined attacks — once premium features are enabled, latent vulnerabilities (XSS, file upload flaws, insecure deserialization) become exploitable.
• Supply chain risk — premium features that contact external license servers can be abused to alter behavior, exfiltrate data, or push malicious payloads.
• Persistent changes — attackers can write options, add cron jobs, or create persistence mechanisms in the database or filesystem.

How to detect exploitation (indicators of compromise)

If you run AL Pack ≤ 1.0.2, investigate the following immediately.

A. Webserver access log patterns

• Requests to admin-ajax.php, admin-post.php, or plugin-specific REST endpoints with parameters like action=, activate, activate_premium, license, check_activate_permission, or similar.
• High-volume or repeated POSTs to plugin endpoints from unknown IP ranges.

Example grep:

# Apache logs
grep -E 'admin-ajax.php|admin-post.php|alpack' /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep -E 'activate|license|check_activate_permission'

B. WordPress option changes

Search wp_options for keys used by the plugin (e.g. alpack_premium_active, alpack_license_key). If flags are set without site-owner action, suspect compromise.

SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%alpack%';

C. New or modified files

Check plugin folder for recent modifications or unexpected PHP files.

# from site root
find wp-content/plugins/alpack -type f -mtime -7 -ls

D. New users or changes to admin accounts

wp user list --role=administrator --format=table

E. Cron jobs and scheduled events

wp cron event list

F. Outbound connections

Check server network logs for unexpected outbound connections or DNS queries coinciding with activation attempts.

G. WAF / security logs

Inspect your WAF or web-application logs for blocked or suspicious requests targeting AL Pack endpoints. Correlate those entries with access logs and timestamps.

H. File integrity alerts

If you use file integrity monitoring, review recent alerts for plugin files.

Immediate mitigations for site owners (do this now)

If you cannot immediately apply an official patch, apply one or more of the following mitigations to reduce risk:

1. Disable or remove the plugin — the simplest, most reliable short-term mitigation.

   # via WP-CLI
   wp plugin deactivate alpack
   
   # or rename plugin folder
   mv wp-content/plugins/alpack wp-content/plugins/_alpack_disabled
   

2. Block access to plugin entrypoints at the webserver — deny public access to the plugin folder or specific files until a fix is available.

   Apache (.htaccess) example:
   <FilesMatch "^(.*alpack.*\.php)$">
       Order Allow,Deny
       Deny from all
   </FilesMatch>
   
   Nginx example:
   location ~* /wp-content/plugins/alpack/ {
       deny all;
       return 403;
   }
   

3. Restrict unauthenticated calls to admin-ajax/admin-post — implement a simple mu-plugin that blocks unauthenticated actions related to AL Pack.

   <?php
   // wp-content/mu-plugins/block-alpack.php
   add_action('admin_init', function() {
       if ( ! is_user_logged_in() && isset($_REQUEST['action']) ) {
           $action = $_REQUEST['action'];
           if ( stripos($action, 'alpack') !== false || stripos($action, 'activate') !== false ) {
               wp_die('Unauthorized', '403', array('response' => 403));
           }
       }
   });
   

4. Block suspicious parameters and paths — use server rules or your WAF to drop requests that include known activation parameters or target the plugin folder.
5. Harden backups and monitoring — ensure recent backups are available, increase log retention, and monitor for repeated probes.

WAF / virtual patching examples (generic)

While waiting for an upstream patch, a web application firewall (WAF) can block exploit attempts at the edge. Below are generic rule ideas (no vendor references) that security administrators can adapt to their appliance or service.

• Block unauthenticated activation attempts to admin-ajax/admin-post:
  • Match request URI: /admin-ajax.php or /admin-post.php
  • AND request body or query string contains keywords: alpack, activate, check_activate_permission, license
  • AND request lacks WordPress auth cookies (no wordpress_logged_in_)
  • ACTION: Block (403) and log details.
• Deny direct access to plugin files:
  • Match request path under /wp-content/plugins/alpack/
  • Unless request originates from an internal IP range or includes a valid admin cookie, return 403.
• Block attempts to set known option names:
  • Drop requests attempting to write parameters like alpack_premium_active, alpack_license_key, or check_activate_permission.
• Rate-limit and reputation rules:
  • Rate-limit repeated requests probing plugin endpoints to slow scanners and automated exploitation.

Example conceptual rule (pseudo):

If REQUEST_URI contains "admin-ajax.php" OR "admin-post.php"
AND (REQUEST_BODY OR QUERY_STRING) matches /(alpack|al_pack|check_activate_permission|activate_premium|license)/i
AND Cookie does not contain "wordpress_logged_in_"
THEN Block request (403) and log details.

Note: adapt these rules to your infrastructure and test on a staging site before broad deployment to avoid false positives.

Detection scripts and useful commands

Quick checks to run from the server or via WP-CLI:

# 1) Check for activation flag in DB:
wp db query "SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%alpack%';"

# 2) Search access logs:
grep -Ei "admin-ajax.php|admin-post.php|alpack|al_pack|check_activate_permission|activate_premium" /var/log/nginx/access.log

# 3) Find modified plugin files:
find wp-content/plugins/alpack -type f -mtime -10 -ls

# 4) Look for suspicious cron events:
wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run,status

# 5) Identify new admins:
wp user list --role=administrator --format=csv

If you discover suspicious evidence, preserve logs and snapshots immediately for further investigation.

Long-term recommendations for developers and plugin authors

• Authenticate privileged actions: require capability checks and nonces for anything that modifies state.
• Prefer wp_ajax_ (authenticated) over wp_ajax_nopriv_ for state-changing AJAX actions.
• When registering REST routes, always supply a robust permission_callback.
• Avoid enabling state changes via GET parameters; enforce POST with nonce verification and proper sanitization.
• Apply the principle of least privilege: limit features to users who need them (e.g. manage_options).
• Implement defensive programming: validate inputs, use WP APIs for options and file handling, and log suspicious activation attempts for auditing.
• Include security checks in CI, and maintain a vulnerability disclosure process for timely response and patches.

If your site was compromised — incident response checklist

1. Isolate the site — block public traffic or take the site offline while investigating.
2. Preserve evidence — copy logs, export the database, and snapshot files.
3. Disable/remove the vulnerable plugin — wp plugin deactivate alpack or rename the folder.
4. If possible, restore from a known-good backup. If not, continue investigation.
5. Rotate all credentials — WordPress admin passwords, database credentials, API keys and service credentials.
6. Scan for web shells and malicious code — search for unknown/obfuscated PHP files and recent modifications.
7. Audit users and scheduled tasks — remove unauthorized admin accounts and suspicious cron jobs.
8. Clean malicious DB changes — remove unknown options, redirects, and rogue metadata.
9. Reinstall plugin only from a trusted source after an official patch and file audit.
10. Monitor for re-infection with increased logging for at least 90 days.

Closing note from a Hong Kong security expert

Broken access control issues that allow unauthenticated changes are particularly serious because they provide attackers immediate leverage with very little skill required. For administrators in Hong Kong and beyond: act now if you run AL Pack ≤ 1.0.2. Check logs and database flags, disable the plugin if you cannot patch immediately, and deploy server-level or WAF-based rules to block activation vectors.

Where possible, preserve evidence and follow a cautious incident-response workflow. If you lack the internal capability to investigate or remediate safely, seek a professional incident responder experienced with WordPress environments.

Appendix — quick-check checklist

• Do you have AL Pack installed (≤ 1.0.2)? If yes, begin immediate checks.
• Search access logs for suspicious activation attempts.
• Query wp_options for alpack-related flags and values.
• Deactivate or remove the plugin if you cannot patch safely.
• Deploy WAF or server rules to block activation endpoints and suspicious parameters.
• Run a full malware scan and inspect files for modification.
• Rotate credentials and audit user accounts.
• Keep enhanced monitoring in place for at least 90 days.