CVE-2025-23589

High

Published: 22 January 2025

Published

22 January 2025

Modified

23 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score v3.1 7.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

EPSS Score 0.0034 57.4th percentile

Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-23589 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 42.6% 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-2025-23589 is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the ContentOptin Lite WordPress plugin by markugwuanyi. This issue affects ContentOptin Lite versions from n/a through 1.1 inclusive. Published on 2025-01-22, 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 can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no required privileges, though it demands user interaction such as clicking a malicious link. Successful exploitation reflects attacker-controlled input in the generated web page, executing arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser context. With a changed scope, this enables low-level impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as session hijacking or limited site manipulation on behalf of the authenticated user.

Mitigation guidance is available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/contentoptin/vulnerability/wordpress-contentoptin-lite-plugin-1-1-reflected-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3266

Vulnerability details

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in markugwuanyi ContentOptin Lite contentoptin allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects ContentOptin Lite: from n/a through <= 1.1.

CWE(s): CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1059.007 JavaScript Execution

Adversaries may abuse various implementations of JavaScript for execution.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Reflected XSS in public-facing WordPress plugin enables exploitation of web application (T1190) and arbitrary JavaScript execution in browser (T1059.007) via malicious links.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1