CVE-2025-11244: saadiqbal password protected — lock entire site, pages, posts, categories, and partial content Improper Authorization

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-11244 is a low (CVSS 3.7) Improper Authorization vulnerability in saadiqbal password protected — lock entire site, pages, posts, categories, and partial content. EPSS estimates a 0.31% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 22% of scored vulnerabilities. Fixed in 2.7.12.

Timeline

1. 25-10-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 08-04-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

The Password Protected plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass via IP address spoofing in all versions up to, and including, 2.7.11. This is due to the plugin trusting client-controlled HTTP headers (such as X-Forwarded-For, HTTP_CLIENT_IP, and similar headers) to determine user IP addresses in the `pp_get_ip_address()` function when the "Use transients" feature is enabled. This makes it possible for attackers to bypass authorization by spoofing these headers with the IP address of a legitimately authenticated user, granted the "Use transients" option is enabled (non-default configuration) and the site is not behind a CDN or reverse proxy that overwrites these headers.

• CWE-285Improper AuthorizationThe product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.