Introduction
Attackers can gain full administrative control over healthcare and telemedicine WordPress sites by exploiting a critical flaw in the Doccure Core plugin. This vulnerability enables unauthenticated users to create administrator accounts through a manipulated registration process, risking exposure of sensitive patient data and disruption of medical services.
About Doccure and Dreams Technologies: Doccure is a healthcare management and telemedicine platform from Dreams Technologies, used by hospitals, clinics, and practitioners worldwide. The WordPress plugin and theme are popular for integrating appointment scheduling and patient management into healthcare websites. Dreams Technologies has a history of security issues in its Doccure product line, including password reset and file upload vulnerabilities.
Technical Information
CVE-2025-8900 affects Doccure Core plugin versions up to and excluding 1.5.4. The vulnerability is rooted in the plugin's handling of user registration. Specifically, the registration process accepts a 'user_type' parameter from the client and uses it to assign the account's WordPress role. The plugin does not validate or restrict this parameter server-side. As a result, an attacker can submit a registration request with 'user_type' set to 'administrator' and receive an account with full admin privileges.
The flaw is classified as CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management). It bypasses WordPress's default behavior, which assigns a safe default role (usually 'subscriber') to new users. The attack requires only access to the public registration endpoint and the ability to modify HTTP requests. No authentication or prior access is needed.
Detection Methods
Detecting unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerabilities, such as those found in the Doccure Core plugin for WordPress, requires a multifaceted approach combining static and dynamic analysis techniques. (help.sap.com)
Static Analysis:
-
Code Review: Examine the plugin's source code to identify improper access controls or authentication mechanisms that could allow unauthorized privilege escalation.
-
Configuration Assessment: Review the plugin's configuration files and settings to ensure that default credentials are not in use and that permissions are appropriately set.
Dynamic Analysis:
-
Penetration Testing: Simulate attacks by attempting to exploit known vulnerabilities in a controlled environment to assess the plugin's resilience against unauthorized access attempts.
-
Behavioral Monitoring: Utilize runtime monitoring tools to detect anomalies in the plugin's behavior, such as unexpected changes in user roles or permissions.
Indicators of Compromise (IoCs):
-
Unauthorized User Role Changes: Monitor for instances where user roles are altered without proper authorization, indicating potential exploitation.
-
Unusual Administrative Actions: Keep an eye on administrative activities performed by accounts that typically do not have such privileges.
Monitoring Guidance:
-
Log Analysis: Regularly review server and application logs for signs of unauthorized access or privilege escalation attempts.
-
Alerting Mechanisms: Implement alerts for specific events, such as changes to user roles or the creation of new administrative accounts, to promptly detect and respond to potential threats.
By integrating these detection methods, organizations can enhance their ability to identify and mitigate unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins like Doccure Core.
Affected Systems and Versions
- Product: Doccure Core WordPress plugin
- Affected versions: All versions up to and excluding 1.5.4 (that is, 1.5.3 and earlier)
- Vulnerable configuration: Any WordPress site with public registration enabled using a vulnerable version of the Doccure Core plugin
Vendor Security History
Dreams Technologies, the vendor behind Doccure, has previously released products with similar privilege management flaws. Notable vulnerabilities include:
- CVE-2025-9112: Unauthenticated arbitrary user password change in Doccure theme
- Arbitrary file upload vulnerabilities in Doccure products
These issues indicate recurring gaps in secure development practices and code review within the vendor's product line.
