CVE-2025-14980: Info Disclosure leaks sensitive

CISO Take

Any WordPress deployment running BetterDocs ≤4.3.3 with OpenAI integration is leaking its API key to every contributor-level user. Patch to 4.3.4 immediately and rotate the OpenAI API key — assume it is compromised. Set OpenAI spending limits and audit API logs for unauthorized queries before you close the incident.

What is the risk?

Rated CVSS 6.5 but practical impact is higher in AI-integrated environments. Contributor access is low-barrier in content-heavy WordPress sites that allow user registration. The exposed OpenAI API key enables unlimited inference at the victim's expense, potential exfiltration of assistant configurations or fine-tuned model behavior, and unbounded cost accumulation. Exploitability is trivial — no specialized tooling required.

How severe is it?

CVSS 3.1

6.5 / 10

EPSS

0.3%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 24% of all CVEs

Source: EPSS v3 — FIRST.org

Exploitation Status

Exploit Available

Exploitation: MEDIUM

Sophistication

Trivial

Exploitation Confidence

medium

○ Public PoC indexed (trickest/cve)

Composite signal derived from CISA KEV, VulnCheck KEV, CISA SSVC, EPSS, Metasploit, Exploit-DB, trickest/cve, Nuclei templates, and inthewild.io exploitation reports.

What is the attack surface?

AV Network

AC Low

PR Low

UI None

S Unchanged

C High

I None

A None

What should I do?

1 step

1) Patch immediately: update BetterDocs to 4.3.4+. 2) Rotate the OpenAI API key in the OpenAI dashboard — treat the existing key as fully compromised. 3) Set API spending limits and anomaly alerts in the OpenAI account. 4) Audit OpenAI API usage logs for unauthorized queries during the exposure window. 5) Review contributor-level WordPress accounts for unauthorized access or account creation. 6) Scan other installed WordPress plugins for similar credential exposure patterns using tools like WPScan or a code audit.

What does CISA's SSVC say?

Decision Track

Exploitation none

Automatable No

Technical Impact partial

Source: CISA Vulnrichment (SSVC v2.0). Decision based on the CISA Coordinator decision tree.

How is it classified?

Data Leakage Data Extraction Auth Bypass API Plugin AML.T0034 - Cost Harvesting AML.T0040 - AI Model Inference API Access AML.T0048.000 - Financial Harm AML.T0049 - Exploit Public-Facing Application AML.T0055 - Unsecured Credentials AML.T0083 - Credentials from AI Agent Configuration AML.T0091.000 - Application Access Token

Which compliance frameworks are affected?

This CVE is relevant to:

EU AI Act

Art. 15 - Accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity Article 9 - Risk Management System

ISO 42001

A.6.2.6 - AI System Security A.9.2 - Information security controls for AI systems

NIST AI RMF

MANAGE 2.2 - Mechanisms to sustain the value of deployed AI

OWASP LLM Top 10

LLM02 - Sensitive Information Disclosure LLM06 - Sensitive Information Disclosure LLM07 - Insecure Plugin Design

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-14980?

Any WordPress deployment running BetterDocs ≤4.3.3 with OpenAI integration is leaking its API key to every contributor-level user. Patch to 4.3.4 immediately and rotate the OpenAI API key — assume it is compromised. Set OpenAI spending limits and audit API logs for unauthorized queries before you close the incident.

Is CVE-2025-14980 actively exploited?

Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available for CVE-2025-14980, increasing the risk of exploitation.

How to fix CVE-2025-14980?

1) Patch immediately: update BetterDocs to 4.3.4+. 2) Rotate the OpenAI API key in the OpenAI dashboard — treat the existing key as fully compromised. 3) Set API spending limits and anomaly alerts in the OpenAI account. 4) Audit OpenAI API usage logs for unauthorized queries during the exposure window. 5) Review contributor-level WordPress accounts for unauthorized access or account creation. 6) Scan other installed WordPress plugins for similar credential exposure patterns using tools like WPScan or a code audit.

What systems are affected by CVE-2025-14980?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: LLM API integrations, WordPress AI plugins, knowledge base and documentation systems, plugin frameworks.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2025-14980?

CVE-2025-14980 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). The EPSS exploitation probability is 0.32%.

What is the AI security impact?

Affected AI Architectures

LLM API integrationsWordPress AI pluginsknowledge base and documentation systemsplugin frameworks

MITRE ATLAS Techniques

AML.T0034 Cost Harvesting

AML.T0040 AI Model Inference API Access

AML.T0048.000 Financial Harm

AML.T0049 Exploit Public-Facing Application

AML.T0055 Unsecured Credentials

AML.T0083 Credentials from AI Agent Configuration

AML.T0091.000 Application Access Token

Compliance Controls Affected

EU AI Act: Art. 15, Article 9

ISO 42001: A.6.2.6, A.9.2

NIST AI RMF: MANAGE 2.2

OWASP LLM Top 10: LLM02, LLM06, LLM07

What are the technical details?

Original Advisory

The BetterDocs plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 4.3.3 via the scripts() function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to extract sensitive data including the OpenAI API key stored in plugin settings.

Exploitation Scenario

An attacker registers or compromises a contributor-level account on a target WordPress site. They load any BetterDocs-enabled page and inspect the JavaScript sources rendered by the plugin's scripts() function, which embeds the OpenAI API key in plaintext in the frontend bundle. The attacker extracts the key in under five minutes without any specialized tooling. They immediately begin abusing the OpenAI API: sending high-volume queries to harvest costs, probing assistants for sensitive conversation history, or extracting fine-tuned model behavior. If the key grants access to OpenAI organization-level resources, lateral access to other team members' data is possible.

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor Primary

CWE-200 — Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor: The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.

[Architecture and Design] Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.

Source: MITRE CWE corpus.