CVE-2025-8723

CriticalRCE

Published: 19 August 2025

Published

19 August 2025

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0175 82.7th percentile

Risk Priority 21 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-8723 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 17.3% 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

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

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires timely remediation of the code injection flaw by applying patches from changesets 3337593 and 3341917 to plugin versions beyond 1.5.6, directly eliminating the vulnerability.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Mandates validation and sanitization of inputs to the hook_rest_pre_dispatch() method, preventing arbitrary PHP code injection even in unpatched versions.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Enforces authentication and access controls on the unauthenticated REST endpoint, blocking unauthenticated attackers from reaching the vulnerable hook_rest_pre_dispatch() method.

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 →

Why these techniques?

Direct unauthenticated RCE via missing auth/sanitization in public-facing WordPress plugin (CWE-94).

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

NVD Description

The Cloudflare Image Resizing plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution due to missing authentication and insufficient sanitization within its hook_rest_pre_dispatch() method in all versions up to, and including, 1.5.6. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to…

inject arbitrary PHP into the codebase, achieving remote code execution.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-8723 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Cloudflare Image Resizing plugin for WordPress, published on 2025-08-19. The flaw arises from missing authentication and insufficient sanitization within the plugin's hook_rest_pre_dispatch() method, affecting all versions up to and including 1.5.6. Mapped to CWE-94 (code injection), it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for widespread impact.

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low attack complexity and no privileges or user interaction required. By targeting the vulnerable method, they can inject arbitrary PHP code into the WordPress site's codebase, achieving full remote code execution and compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Patches addressing the issue have been committed to the WordPress plugin trac in changesets 3337593 and 3341917. Wordfence provides a detailed vulnerability advisory, and further developer information is available on the plugin's WordPress.org page; security practitioners should prioritize updating affected installations beyond version 1.5.6 to mitigate exploitation.