Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2025-23422 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 47th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-23422 is an Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory vulnerability, classified under CWE-22 (Path Traversal), in the moaluko Store Locator WordPress plugin (store-locator). This flaw allows PHP Local File Inclusion and affects all versions from n/a through 3.98.10. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant impact despite requiring user interaction and high attack complexity.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network by tricking a user into performing an action, such as interacting with a maliciously crafted request. Successful exploitation enables PHP Local File Inclusion, potentially allowing the attacker to access or include arbitrary local files on the server, resulting in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/store-locator/vulnerability/wordpress-store-locator-plugin-3-98-10-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability?_s_id=cve. Security practitioners should update to a patched version if available and review plugin configurations for path handling.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3170
Vulnerability Data
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in moaluko Store Locator store-locator allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Store Locator: from n/a through <= 3.98.10.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.