CVE-2025-22766
Published: 15 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-22766 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 in the top 48.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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-2025-22766 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, affecting the WordPress plugin Zarinpal Paid Download (zarinpal-paid-downloads) developed by Masoud Amini. The issue impacts all versions from n/a through 2.3 inclusive. Published on 2025-01-15, 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), indicating high severity due to network accessibility, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction needed, and scope change with low impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network without authentication by crafting malicious payloads that reflect user input on the web page. Exploitation requires tricking an authenticated user, such as a site administrator or logged-in visitor, into interacting with a malicious link or input (e.g., via phishing or social engineering). Successful exploitation allows the attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser context, potentially leading to session hijacking, theft of sensitive data like cookies or tokens, or minor disruptions, though impacts remain low per the CVSS metrics.
The Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/zarinpal-paid-downloads/vulnerability/wordpress-zarinpal-paid-download-plugin-2-3-reflected-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve documents this WordPress plugin vulnerability and serves as a primary reference for affected versions up to 2.3. Security practitioners should verify plugin updates beyond version 2.3 for patches, apply input sanitization where feasible, and monitor sites running this plugin.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-2980
Vulnerability details
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Masoud Amini Zarinpal Paid Download zarinpal-paid-downloads allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Zarinpal Paid Download: from n/a through <= 2.3.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Reflected XSS in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation of public-facing applications (T1190) via crafted malicious links, allows arbitrary JavaScript execution in browser (T1059.007), and facilitates browser session hijacking through cookie/token theft (T1185).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires identifying, reporting, and correcting the specific flaw in the Zarinpal Paid Download plugin that enables reflected XSS through improper input neutralization.
Mandates validation and sanitization of user inputs to reject or neutralize malicious XSS payloads before they are reflected in web page generation.
Enforces output filtering and encoding at web page generation points to prevent execution of reflected XSS payloads in the victim's browser.