CVE-2025-23473
Published: 03 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-23473 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 29.3th 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-2025-23473 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the Killer Theme Options WordPress plugin by Punit Bhalodiya. This issue affects all versions of the killer-theme-options plugin from n/a through 2.0 inclusive. The vulnerability was published on 2025-03-03 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1.
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring no privileges (PR:N) but user interaction (UI:R), and it results in a changed scope (S:C) with low impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:L/I:L/A:L). Any unauthenticated remote attacker who can trick a user—such as an authenticated site visitor or administrator—into interacting with a maliciously crafted link or input can trigger reflected XSS, executing arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser context on the affected WordPress site.
The Patchstack advisory provides details on this vulnerability, including assessment and potential mitigation steps for the Killer Theme Options plugin, accessible at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/killer-theme-options/vulnerability/wordpress-killer-theme-options-plugin-2-0-reflected-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-5748
Vulnerability details
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Punit Bhalodiya Killer Theme Options killer-theme-options allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Killer Theme Options: from n/a through <= 2.0.
- 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), user execution via malicious link (T1204.001), and arbitrary JavaScript execution in browser (T1059.007).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-15 directly prevents reflected XSS by filtering and encoding user input prior to rendering it in web pages, addressing the improper neutralization during web page generation.
SI-10 mitigates the vulnerability by validating and sanitizing untrusted inputs to reject or neutralize XSS payloads before processing.
SI-2 ensures timely remediation of the specific flaw in the Killer Theme Options plugin through identification, reporting, and patching.