CVE-2025-30552
Published: 24 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-30552 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 36.7th 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-2025-30552 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability, classified under CWE-352, in the WordPress plugin WordPress Admin Bar Improved (wordpress-admin-bar-improved) developed by Donald Gilbert. The flaw enables Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and affects all versions from n/a through 3.3.5. It received 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 a high-severity issue with network accessibility, low attack complexity, no required privileges, user interaction, changed scope, and low impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability remotely by tricking a victim—typically a logged-in WordPress user such as an administrator—into interacting with a malicious webpage or resource. This user interaction triggers a forged CSRF request to the vulnerable plugin, allowing the storage of malicious XSS payloads within the admin bar. Successful exploitation leads to Stored XSS execution in the context of subsequent users viewing the affected area, enabling potential theft of session data or other impacts aligned with the low CVSS impact metrics.
The Patchstack advisory provides detailed vulnerability information, including analysis of the CSRF-to-Stored XSS issue in version 3.3.5, at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/wordpress-admin-bar-improved/vulnerability/wordpress-wordpress-admin-bar-improved-plugin-3-3-5-csrf-to-stored-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve. Security practitioners should consult this reference for exploitation details and recommended mitigations, such as updating to a patched version if available or implementing CSRF protections.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-7969
Vulnerability details
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Donald Gilbert WordPress Admin Bar Improved wordpress-admin-bar-improved allows Stored XSS.This issue affects WordPress Admin Bar Improved: from n/a through <= 3.3.5.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The CSRF-to-Stored XSS vulnerability in a public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation of the web application (T1190) and allows injection/execution of malicious JavaScript payloads in the browser context of authenticated users (T1059.007).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mitigates CVE-2025-30552 by requiring timely identification, reporting, and patching of the CSRF-to-Stored XSS flaw in the WordPress Admin Bar Improved plugin.
Prevents exploitation of the CSRF vulnerability in CVE-2025-30552 by enforcing session authenticity mechanisms such as anti-CSRF tokens on plugin endpoints.
Blocks storage of malicious XSS payloads delivered via the CSRF attack in CVE-2025-30552 through rigorous validation of information inputs to the vulnerable plugin.