CVE-2025-14998

Critical

Published: 02 January 2026

Published

02 January 2026

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0006 18.6th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-14998 is a critical-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (CWE-639) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 18.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-2 (Account Management) and IA-5 (Authenticator Management).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

prevent

Requires verification of user identity prior to distributing or changing authenticators like passwords, directly preventing unauthorized password updates exploited in this CVE.

AC-2 Account Management good match

prevent

Mandates secure procedures for modifying accounts including password changes, countering the plugin's failure to validate identity during account updates.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Enforces input validation at system entry points to block authorization bypass via unvalidated user-controlled identity claims used for password changes.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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 →

T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth

Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Direct remote unauthenticated exploitation of public-facing WordPress plugin (T1190) enabling account takeover via password manipulation to abuse valid admin accounts (T1078).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

The Branda plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.4.24. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their password. This makes…

it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change arbitrary user's passwords, including administrators, and leverage that to gain access to their account.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-14998 is a privilege escalation vulnerability via account takeover affecting the Branda plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 3.4.24. The issue stems from the plugin failing to properly validate a user's identity before allowing password updates, enabling unauthorized password changes. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is associated with CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no user interaction required. By targeting the vulnerable endpoint, they can change the passwords of arbitrary users, including administrators, and subsequently log in to gain full account access, potentially leading to complete site compromise.

Mitigation details are available in advisories from Wordfence and the WordPress plugin trac repository, which reference the vulnerable code in version 3.4.24 at inc/modules/login-screen/signup-password.php line 24 and a fix in changeset 3429115. Security practitioners should update the Branda plugin to a version beyond 3.4.24 to address the issue.