CVE-2025-53833
Published: 14 July 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-53833 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine (CWE-1336) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 10.0 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 4.3% 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-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates the SSTI vulnerability by requiring timely identification, reporting, and patching of the flaw in LaRecipe versions prior to 2.8.1.
Prevents SSTI exploitation by enforcing validation and sanitization of untrusted user-supplied Markdown inputs before template processing.
Identifies the presence of the critical SSTI vulnerability through ongoing vulnerability scanning, enabling proactive remediation.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
SSTI in public-facing Laravel web app directly enables unauthenticated RCE via command execution.
NVD Description
LaRecipe is an application that allows users to create documentation with Markdown inside a Laravel app. Versions prior to 2.8.1 are vulnerable to Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI), which could potentially lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) in vulnerable configurations. Attackers…
more
could execute arbitrary commands on the server, access sensitive environment variables, and/or escalate access depending on server configuration. Users are strongly advised to upgrade to version v2.8.1 or later to receive a patch.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-53833 is a Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI) vulnerability affecting LaRecipe, an application for creating Markdown-based documentation within Laravel applications. Versions prior to 2.8.1 are vulnerable, with the issue classified under CWE-1336. The flaw carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity due to its potential for remote code execution (RCE) in vulnerable configurations.
The vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary command execution on the server, access to sensitive environment variables, and potential privilege escalation, depending on the server's configuration. The changed scope in the CVSS vector highlights how exploitation can impact beyond the vulnerable component.
Mitigation is addressed in the official GitHub security advisory (GHSA-jv7x-xhv2-p5v2), which recommends upgrading to LaRecipe version 2.8.1 or later. The patch is detailed in pull request #390 and commit c1d0d56889655ce5f2645db5acf0e78d5fc3b36b, where the SSTI issue was resolved.
Details
- CWE(s)