CVE-2025-22725
Published: 08 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-22725 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 0.7th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-15 (Information Output Filtering).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-22725 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Stored Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, affecting the WP Virtual Assistant plugin (also referred to as VirtualAssistant) developed by loopus for WordPress. This issue impacts all versions of the plugin from unknown starting versions through 3.1 inclusive. The vulnerability was published on 2026-01-08 with 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).
Unauthenticated attackers with network access can exploit this Stored XSS vulnerability with low complexity, though it requires user interaction to trigger. Exploitation involves injecting malicious scripts that are stored and executed in the context of other users viewing affected pages, potentially leading to low-impact effects on confidentiality, integrity, and availability due to the changed scope.
The primary advisory reference is from Patchstack at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/VirtualAssistant/vulnerability/wordpress-wp-virtual-assistant-plugin-3-0-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve, which documents the XSS issue in the WP Virtual Assistant plugin.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-1557
Vulnerability details
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in loopus WP Virtual Assistant VirtualAssistant allows Stored XSS.This issue affects WP Virtual Assistant: from n/a through <= 3.1.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Stored XSS in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation of the web application (T1190) and client-side JavaScript execution (T1059.007).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires validation and sanitization of all inputs to the WP Virtual Assistant plugin before storage, directly blocking the improper neutralization that enables Stored XSS.
Mandates filtering or encoding of output generated from stored plugin data, preventing malicious scripts from executing in victims' browsers.
Restricts or inspects mobile code (scripts) accepted or executed by the plugin, limiting the ability of unauthenticated attackers to inject and persist XSS payloads.