Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2025-69182 is a high-severity privilege escalation issue in the WordPress Institutions Directory plugin through version 1.3.4. A low-privileged authenticated user could potentially gain excessive privileges, threatening site control, data confidentiality, and integrity. There is no provided evidence of active exploitation or CISA KEV listing.
Executive priority
Treat as a near-term priority for WordPress environments using this plugin, especially sites with public registration or many user accounts. The issue can affect full site confidentiality, integrity, and availability, but current sources do not confirm exploitation in the wild.
Technical view
The CVE describes CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment in e-plugins Institutions Directory for WordPress, affecting versions up to 1.3.4. CVSS 3.1 is 8.8: network exploitable, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites with the Institutions Directory plugin installed at version 1.3.4 or earlier. The vulnerability requires an authenticated low-privilege account, so sites allowing public registration or many contributor-level users may face higher practical risk.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show active exploitation and KEV is false. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation could be remote and does not require user interaction, but requires an authenticated low-privileged account. No exploit details are provided in the cited sources.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Patchstack database reference. The bundle does not include a fixed version, detailed root cause, affected code path, or proof-of-concept. Avoid assuming exploit availability or remediation beyond vendor and Patchstack guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Institutions Directory plugin and its version.
- If installed at 1.3.4 or earlier, check vendor or Patchstack guidance for a fixed release.
- Disable or remove the plugin if it is not business-critical.
- Limit user registration and review low-privilege accounts until remediation is confirmed.
- Monitor WordPress admin activity and unexpected role or permission changes.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether the Institutions Directory plugin is installed on each WordPress site.
- Record plugin version and compare against affected versions through 1.3.4.
- Review user roles for unexpected privilege changes or new administrator accounts.
- Check vendor, CVE, and Patchstack pages for updated remediation details.
- Verify remediation by confirming the plugin is updated, removed, or disabled.
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-266: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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 lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2025-69182 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
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
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.
Incorrect Privilege Assignment
Incorrect Privilege Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.