CVE-2025-14478
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Demo Importer Plus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE) in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.9 via the SVG file upload functionality. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to achieve code execution in vulnerable configurations. This only impacts sites on versions of PHP older than 8.0.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Demo Importer Plus WordPress plugin fails to properly sanitize SVG file uploads, allowing XML External Entity (XXE) injection. Attackers with Author-level or higher access can upload malicious SVG files containing external entity references that can be parsed by the vulnerable XML processor, leading to code execution on servers running PHP versions older than 8.0.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Demo Importer Plus plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins or check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'demo-importer-plus' or similar. You can also use WP-CLI: wp plugin list --search='*demo*'Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
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Identify the installed plugin versionIn WordPress Admin > Plugins, click on the plugin to view its details and version number. Alternatively, open the main plugin PHP file (usually in the plugin folder root) and look for the 'Version' header in the plugin comments, or use WP-CLI: wp plugin get demo-importer-plusAffected if The displayed version is below 2.1.0 (e.g., 2.0.x, 1.x.x, etc.)
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Verify PHP version on the serverCheck your server PHP version via phpinfo(), command line (php -v), or create a PHP info file. In WordPress, you can also check at Site Health > Info > ServerAffected if PHP version is older than 8.0 (e.g., 7.4, 7.3, etc.) - this is required for the code execution impact, though the XXE vulnerability exists on any PHP version
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Confirm user roles with upload capabilitiesNavigate to WordPress Admin > Users and review which users have Author, Editor, or Administrator roles. These roles have the 'upload_files' capability required to trigger the vulnerable code pathAffected if Any user accounts exist with Author-level or higher privileges (these roles can upload files through the plugin)
You are affected if the Demo Importer Plus plugin is installed with a version lower than 2.1.0 and users with Author-level or higher access exist on the site, with PHP below 8.0 for the full code execution impact.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate the Demo Importer Plus plugin to version 2.1.0 or later which contains the security fix. Until updated, consider disabling the plugin or restricting upload capabilities for lower-privileged users.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-14478 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-14478 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data