CVE-2025-6990

HighRCE

Published: 01 November 2025

Published

01 November 2025

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0030 53.5th percentile

Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-6990 is a high-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Hogash (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 46.5% 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

prevent

Enforces least privilege by restricting access to the TH_PhpCode code execution widget to administrators only, preventing Contributors and lower roles from exploiting the vulnerability.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Requires enforcement of approved access authorizations to block non-administrators from using the unrestricted code editor widget in the Kallyas theme.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly mitigates the RCE flaw by identifying, prioritizing, and applying patches available in the Kallyas theme changelog.

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 →

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Authenticated low-privilege (Contributor+) remote code execution via unrestricted PHP code editor in WordPress theme directly enables exploitation of a public-facing application (T1190) and privilege escalation from low privileges to full server compromise (T1068).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

The kallyas theme for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 4.24.0 via the `TH_PhpCode` pagebuilder widget. This is due to the theme not restricting access to the code editor widget for non-administrators.…

This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to execute code on the server.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-6990 is a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability (CWE-94) in the Kallyas theme for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 4.24.0. The flaw exists in the TH_PhpCode pagebuilder widget, which provides a code editor that the theme fails to restrict to administrators, allowing unauthorized access by lower-privileged users.

Authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no user interaction required. Exploitation enables arbitrary code execution on the server, granting high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as reflected in its CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Advisories with mitigation and patch details are available in the Kallyas theme changelog at https://my.hogash.com/changelog_category/kallyas-wordpress-theme/ and the Wordfence threat intelligence report at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/721d29e4-397d-4965-bd64-33bced8e5de4?source=cve.