Cyber Posture

CVE-2025-23549

High

Published: 03 March 2025

Published
03 March 2025
Modified
23 April 2026
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score 7.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0011 29.2th percentile
Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Description

An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.

Security Summary

CVE-2025-23549 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the Maniac SEO WordPress plugin by agora32. The issue affects all versions of the Maniac SEO plugin from n/a through 2.0 inclusive. Published on 2025-03-03, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L).

Remote attackers require no privileges and can exploit this over the network with low attack complexity, though user interaction is needed, such as visiting a maliciously crafted URL. Exploitation results in execution of arbitrary scripts in the victim's browser due to the changed scope (S:C), enabling limited impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as potential session hijacking or data theft within the browser context.

The Patchstack advisory documents this Reflected XSS vulnerability specifically in WordPress Maniac SEO plugin version 2.0 and serves as a primary reference for details on the issue.

Details

CWE(s)
CWE-79

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.007 JavaScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse various implementations of JavaScript for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Reflected XSS in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables arbitrary JavaScript execution in browser (T1059.007), facilitating session hijacking (T1185) and web session cookie theft (T1539) via malicious URL; maps to initial access via public app exploitation (T1190).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

References