Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-25989 is a stored cross-site scripting issue in ifme’s Groups markdown editor. A malicious authenticated user could store content that runs in another user’s browser when the group leadership workflow renders it. The issue is medium severity, but it matters where ifme is exposed to untrusted users or handles sensitive account sessions.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted medium-priority web application risk. Escalate if ifme is internet-facing, supports untrusted users, or stores sensitive user sessions. Otherwise, schedule remediation through normal patch management after confirming exposure.
Technical view
The CVE describes CWE-79 stored XSS in ifme versions 1.0.0 through v7.31.4. The CVSS 3.1 score is 5.4 with network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required, changed scope, and low confidentiality and integrity impact. Availability impact is not indicated.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to organizations running ifme, especially versions 1.0.0 through v7.31.4 with Groups and markdown editing enabled for authenticated users. Internet-facing or community-style deployments have higher practical risk than closed, trusted-user deployments.
Exploitation context
The source states exploitation involves stored XSS in the markdown editor and a victim becoming a group Leader, which triggers the stored content for them. The CVE is not listed as KEV, and the provided sources do not claim active exploitation in the wild.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sufficient for affected component, vulnerability class, version range, and CVSS characteristics. Evidence is incomplete on exact fixed release, operational indicators, and real-world exploitation. Avoid assuming broader products or active attacks without additional vendor or threat-intelligence confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory any ifme deployments and identify deployed versions.
- Check upstream ifme guidance and the referenced commit before changing production systems.
- Upgrade or patch if the vendor identifies a fixed release or applicable fix.
- Restrict group leadership and markdown editing to trusted users until remediated.
- Review group markdown content created by untrusted or low-trust accounts.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether deployed ifme versions fall within 1.0.0 through v7.31.4.
- Verify whether Groups markdown editing is available to authenticated users.
- Confirm the upstream fix or vendor-recommended remediation is present.
- Review recent group leadership and group content changes for suspicious activity.
- Test safely in non-production that group markdown renders without executing script content.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-25989 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N2.32.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.4MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/ifmeorg/ifme/commit/df4986f0721a72779403d21d36c025fe95edffadCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2021-25989CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.