A recent vulnerability has been discovered and assigned CVE ID: CVE-2023-5704, indicating a critical security issue affecting the popular CPO Shortcodes plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages, which then execute when users access these pages. The vulnerability is prevalent in all versions of the plugin up to and including version 1.5..
The issue at hand involves insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes within the plugin's shortcodes. As a result, authenticated attackers with contributor-level permissions and above can exploit this flaw to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks.
Original References
- CVE-2023-5704 - CPO Shortcodes WordPress plugin - Stored XSS
- CPO Shortcodes: CVE-2023-5704
- CPO Shortcodes - Stored XSS - GitHub Security Advisory
Exploit Details
The vulnerability specifically lies within the shortcodes feature of the CPO Shortcodes plugin. Shortcodes are simple placeholders that allow WordPress users to display complex content by entering a predetermined string of characters enclosed between square brackets - for example, [shortcode attribute="value"].
By exploiting the insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes, an attacker could embed malicious scripts within the shortcodes. When these shortcodes are rendered on a web page, the malicious script executes in the context of the user's browser.
Code Snippet Example
Below is an example of a malicious payload injected using one of the CPO Shortcodes plugin's shortcodes:
[cpo_shortcode attribute="value" onmouseover="JavaScript:alert('XSS Vulnerability!');"]
When a user hovers over the element rendered by the affected shortcode, the malicious JavaScript payload (in this case, a simple alert with the text 'XSS Vulnerability!') will execute.
Mitigation Steps
To protect your website from this vulnerability, it is essential to update the CPO Shortcodes plugin to the latest version. The plugin's developers have since released a fixed version, which addresses the input sanitization and output escaping issues.
You can update the plugin through your WordPress admin dashboard or manually download the latest version from the plugin's official repository.
It is also advisable to review your existing pages and posts for any unexpected shortcodes and remove them if necessary.
Conclusion
CVE-2023-5704 highlights the potential risks associated with insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in WordPress plugins. It is crucial for developers to adopt secure coding practices and consistently update their plugins. As a website owner or administrator, you should always keep your website's WordPress plugins up-to-date and monitor your website for any suspicious activities and vulnerabilities.
Timeline
Published on: 11/22/2023 16:15:14 UTC
Last modified on: 11/28/2023 19:22:32 UTC