CVE-2025-23485
Published: 03 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-23485 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 Malicious Link (T1204.001); 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-2025-23485 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the RS Survey WordPress plugin developed by richestsoft (rs-survey). This issue affects all versions of the plugin from n/a through 1.0 inclusive, as published on 2025-03-03.
The vulnerability 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 network accessibility, low attack complexity, no required privileges, and user interaction such as clicking a malicious link. Remote attackers can exploit it by injecting malicious payloads into web pages generated by the plugin, leading to script execution in the context of a victim's browser. This enables potential theft of session cookies or other client-side data, with low impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability due to the changed scope.
Patchstack has issued an advisory on the vulnerability specifically for RS Survey plugin version 1.0, available at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/rs-survey/vulnerability/wordpress-rs-survey-plugin-1-0-reflected-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve, which security practitioners should review for recommended mitigations and patch details.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-5736
Vulnerability details
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in richestsoft RS Survey rs-survey allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects RS Survey: from n/a through <= 1.0.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Reflected XSS allows exploitation via crafted malicious links clicked by victims (T1204.001), directly enabling script execution for stealing web session cookies (T1539) and browser session hijacking (T1185).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires filtering of output to web pages to neutralize malicious scripts, directly addressing the improper neutralization of input during web page generation in this reflected XSS vulnerability.
Enforces validation of user inputs to block malicious XSS payloads before they are processed by the RS Survey plugin.
Mandates timely flaw remediation, including patching the specific XSS vulnerability in RS Survey versions through 1.0 as advised by Patchstack.