CVE-2025-23453
Published: 16 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-23453 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 46.2th 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-15 (Information Output Filtering) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-23453 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the Stars SMTP Mailer WordPress plugin by Myriad Solutionz. The issue affects all versions of Stars SMTP Mailer from unknown initial release through version 1.7 inclusive. Published on 2025-01-16, 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).
Attackers with no required privileges can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low attack complexity, though it requires user interaction, such as tricking a victim into accessing a maliciously crafted link or input reflected in the web page. Successful exploitation enables limited impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (low in each), but the changed scope (S:C) allows consequences to extend beyond the vulnerable component, potentially affecting higher-privilege assets like administrative sessions via session hijacking or script execution in the victim's browser.
The Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/stars-smtp-mailer/vulnerability/wordpress-stars-smtp-mailer-plugin-1-7-reflected-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve details the reflected XSS in the Stars SMTP Mailer WordPress plugin up to version 1.7, recommending updates to patched versions where available or alternative mitigations like input sanitization for affected sites.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3189
Vulnerability details
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Myriad Solutionz Stars SMTP Mailer stars-smtp-mailer allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Stars SMTP Mailer: from n/a through <= 1.7.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Reflected XSS in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation of the web application (T1190) and facilitates browser session hijacking via injected scripts (T1185), as explicitly noted in the description with scope change impacting admin sessions.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-15 requires filtering information prior to output on web pages, directly preventing reflected XSS by neutralizing malicious scripts in unsanitized user input reflected by the Stars SMTP Mailer plugin.
SI-10 enforces validation of information inputs, mitigating reflected XSS by rejecting or sanitizing malicious payloads before they are processed and reflected in web responses.
SI-2 mandates timely flaw remediation, directly addressing this CVE by requiring patches or updates to vulnerable versions of the Stars SMTP Mailer WordPress plugin.