CVE-2025-23978
Published: 31 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-23978 is a high-severity CSRF (CWE-352) 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 32.0th 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 SC-23 (Session Authenticity) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-23978 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability, classified under CWE-352, in the Ninos FlashCounter WordPress plugin (flashcounter) that enables Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). The issue affects all versions of the plugin from unknown initial release (n/a) through 1.1.8. 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), indicating network accessibility, low attack complexity, no required privileges, user interaction dependency, changed scope, and low impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability remotely by tricking a user—typically an authenticated WordPress administrator—into performing an unintended action, such as visiting a malicious webpage that submits a forged request. This CSRF action stores a malicious XSS payload within the FlashCounter plugin, enabling persistent script execution against subsequent users who view affected pages.
The Patchstack advisory (https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/flashcounter/vulnerability/wordpress-flashcounter-plugin-1-1-8-csrf-to-stored-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve) documents this vulnerability in the WordPress FlashCounter plugin version 1.1.8 and provides further details on the CSRF-to-Stored XSS issue.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3579
Vulnerability details
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Ninos FlashCounter flashcounter allows Stored XSS.This issue affects FlashCounter: from n/a through <= 1.1.8.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation via T1190; stored XSS payload facilitates arbitrary JavaScript execution in victim browsers via T1059.007.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SC-23 protects session authenticity, directly mitigating CSRF attacks by requiring unique, non-manipulable session identifiers and mechanisms like synchronizer tokens to prevent forged requests.
SI-10 enforces validation of information inputs at entry points, preventing the storage of malicious XSS payloads submitted via the CSRF exploit.
SI-15 filters information outputs to block execution of stored malicious scripts, addressing the persistent XSS resulting from the CSRF vulnerability.