CVE-2025-31039

Category Icon <= 1.0.1 - Authenticated (Author+) XML External Entity Injection

2025-06-03 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.0.2
Affected Plugin: Category Icon
Affected Version: <= 1.0.1
CVSS: 6.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-611 · Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference
CVE: CVE-2025-31039

At a glance

CVE-2025-31039 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability in the Category Icon WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.1. It carries a CVSS score of 6.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Author level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2025, reported by Drew Webber (mcdruid).

Vulnerability Overview

The Category Icon plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE) in versions up to, and including, 1.0.1. This may make it possible for allow authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to extract sensitive data or achieve code execution in vulnerable configurations.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.

Remediation

Update to version 1.0.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Author access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Category Icon 1.0.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-31039 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d937cacb-eb80-4c7c-9105-4ac4bd5c48cd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-31039

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Category Icon

CVSS Vector

6.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityLow

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