CVE-2025-69182
Published: 22 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-69182 is a high-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 29.5th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-69182 is an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability (CWE-266) in the Institutions Directory WordPress plugin developed by e-plugins. The flaw enables privilege escalation and affects the plugin in all versions from n/a through 1.3.4 inclusive. Published on 2026-01-22, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant impact.
The vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker who already possesses low privileges (PR:L), such as a subscribed user on a WordPress site running the affected plugin. Exploitation occurs over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L) and requires no user interaction (UI:N), allowing the attacker to escalate privileges. Successful exploitation grants high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), potentially enabling full administrative control over the site.
Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/institutions-directory/vulnerability/wordpress-institutions-directory-plugin-1-3-4-privilege-escalation-vulnerability?_s_id=cve.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-3926
Vulnerability details
Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in e-plugins Institutions Directory institutions-directory allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Institutions Directory: from n/a through <= 1.3.4.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct mapping to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation due to incorrect privilege assignment allowing authenticated low-privileged users to gain full admin control.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces least privilege principle to restrict user access to only necessary permissions, directly countering privilege escalation from incorrect privilege assignment in the plugin.
Requires mechanisms to enforce approved access authorizations, preventing exploitation of flawed privilege checks in the Institutions Directory plugin.
Ensures proper management and review of account privileges, reducing the risk of incorrect privilege assignments exploited by low-privileged users in the plugin.