CVE-2025-53231

High

Published: 20 February 2026

Published

20 February 2026

Modified

15 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 0.0001 3.1th percentile

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

Summary

CVE-2025-53231 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 3.1th 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-2025-53231, published on 2026-02-20, is an Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability, classified as Stored Cross-site Scripting (XSS) under CWE-79, in the wpdevstudio Easy Taxonomy Images plugin for WordPress. The issue affects all versions of the easy-taxonomy-images plugin from n/a through 1.0.1 inclusive.

With 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), the vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers over the network with low complexity. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically an administrator or authenticated user viewing an affected taxonomy page where the attacker-submitted malicious input is stored and rendered without proper neutralization. This enables execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser context, with changed scope allowing limited impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as session hijacking or data exfiltration.

Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/easy-taxonomy-images/vulnerability/wordpress-easy-taxonomy-images-plugin-1-0-1-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve. Security practitioners should monitor for plugin updates beyond version 1.0.1 or apply available patches, while considering temporary deactivation of the plugin on affected sites.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-207570

Vulnerability details

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in wpdevstudio Easy Taxonomy Images easy-taxonomy-images allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Easy Taxonomy Images: from n/a through <= 1.0.1.

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 →

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection

Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Stored XSS directly enables exploitation of public-facing web app (T1190) to execute arbitrary JavaScript (T1059.007) in victim browser, facilitating session hijacking (T1185).

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