CVE-2025-57948 is a medium severity vulnerability classified under CWE-79, which corresponds to Cross-site Scripting (XSS). Specifically, this vulnerability affects the e-plugins Directory Pro product, versions up to and including 2.5.5. The issue arises from improper neutralization of input during web page generation, resulting in a DOM-based XSS flaw. DOM-based XSS occurs when client-side scripts write untrusted data to the Document Object Model (DOM) without proper sanitization, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the victim's browser. This can lead to session hijacking, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites. The CVSS 3.1 score of 6.5 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), user interaction (UI:R), scope changed (S:C), and low impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:L/I:L/A:L). The vulnerability requires an attacker to have some level of privileges on the system and to trick a user into interacting with a crafted payload. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability was published on September 22, 2025, with the reservation date on August 22, 2025. The affected product, Directory Pro by e-plugins, is a web-based directory management system, commonly used for creating and managing online directories.

For European organizations using Directory Pro, this vulnerability poses a risk of client-side code injection leading to unauthorized actions within the context of the affected web application. The impact includes potential theft of user credentials, session tokens, or other sensitive information accessible via the browser. Since the vulnerability requires some level of privilege and user interaction, the risk is somewhat mitigated but still significant, especially for organizations with many users or public-facing directory services. The change in scope (S:C) means that exploitation can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component, potentially impacting other parts of the web application or user data. This could lead to reputational damage, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR breaches if personal data is exposed), and operational disruption. European entities in sectors such as education, government, and business directories that rely on Directory Pro are particularly at risk. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate threat but does not eliminate future risk as attackers may develop exploits once the vulnerability details are widely known.

1. Immediate mitigation should include reviewing and restricting user privileges to minimize the number of users with elevated access, as the vulnerability requires privileges to exploit. 2. Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts and reduce the impact of DOM-based XSS. 3. Conduct a thorough code review and input validation on all user-supplied data that is reflected in the DOM, ensuring proper encoding and sanitization before rendering. 4. Monitor web application logs for unusual activity or attempts to inject scripts. 5. Until an official patch is released, consider deploying Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules specifically targeting known XSS payload patterns related to Directory Pro. 6. Educate users about the risks of interacting with suspicious links or content within the application. 7. Plan for timely patching once an update becomes available from e-plugins, and test patches in a staging environment before production deployment.