VulnerabilityPublished 10 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-60869: Publii CMS · Cross-site Scripting

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 16:39 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.3High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 19% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Vector: Network
Availability: None
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Privileges Required: Low
Scope: Unchanged
User Interaction: Required

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Oct 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately audit their use of Publii CMS, specifically version 0.46.5 or earlier, to identify if vulnerable configurations exist. Until an official patch is released, administrators should avoid entering untrusted input into configuration fields like 'Site Description' and 'Footer Follow Buttons'. Implement manual sanitization of these fields by stripping or encoding potentially dangerous characters before saving. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of inline scripts and reduce the impact of injected JavaScript. Regularly review and sanitize existing configuration data to remove any malicious payloads. Monitor web server logs and user reports for suspicious activity indicative of XSS exploitation. Consider isolating or temporarily disabling vulnerable site features if feasible. Once a patch or update is available from Publii CMS, apply it promptly. Additionally, educate content managers and administrators about the risks of injecting untrusted content into configuration fields. Employ automated scanning tools that detect XSS vulnerabilities in static site content as part of the deployment pipeline.

Description

Publii CMS v0.46.5 (build 17089) allows persistent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via unsanitized input in configuration fields such as "Site Description" and "Footer Follow Buttons". An attacker can inject arbitrary JavaScript, which is stored in the project and executed in the browsers of remote visitors viewing the generated static site.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality and integrity of data accessed via websites built with Publii CMS. Attackers could exploit this flaw to execute malicious scripts in the browsers of site visitors, potentially leading to credential theft, session hijacking, or distribution of malware. This can damage user trust, lead to regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR breaches if personal data is compromised), and cause reputational harm. Since Publii CMS is used for static site generation, the attack surface includes any public-facing websites managed with this CMS, which may be used by SMEs, bloggers, or organizations preferring static site architectures. The persistent nature of the XSS means that once injected, the malicious code remains until the configuration is sanitized or the vulnerability is patched, increasing exposure duration. The requirement for low privileges to inject the payload means insider threats or compromised low-level accounts could facilitate exploitation. The lack of known exploits in the wild provides a window for mitigation, but also means organizations should act swiftly to prevent future attacks.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Oct 2025, 15:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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