CVE-2025-12065
📋 TL;DR
The WP Carticon WordPress plugin has a stored XSS vulnerability that allows authenticated administrators to inject malicious scripts into website pages. This affects all versions up to 1.0.0, but only impacts multi-site WordPress installations or sites where unfiltered_html capability is disabled.
💻 Affected Systems
- WP Carticon WordPress Plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Administrator account compromise leading to complete site takeover, data theft, or malware distribution to visitors.
Likely Case
Limited privilege escalation within WordPress, defacement, or cookie/session theft from other administrators.
If Mitigated
No impact if proper WordPress hardening is implemented or plugin is updated.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires administrator-level access to WordPress. Exploitation is straightforward once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.0.1 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-carticon/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find WP Carticon plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update available. 5. If no update available, deactivate and delete plugin.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Plugin
allTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched version is available.
wp plugin deactivate wp-carticon
Enable unfiltered_html for Administrators
allEnable unfiltered_html capability for administrator roles (removes vulnerability condition).
add_filter('user_has_cap', function($allcaps) { $allcaps['unfiltered_html'] = true; return $allcaps; });
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Remove administrator access from untrusted users.
- Implement web application firewall with XSS protection rules.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for WP Carticon version 1.0.0 or earlier.Check Version:
wp plugin get wp-carticon --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify WP Carticon plugin version is 1.0.1 or later in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to wp-admin containing carticon_js_script parameter with script tags
- Administrator users modifying plugin settings unexpectedly
Network Indicators:
- Injected script payloads in HTTP responses from WordPress pages
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "carticon_js_script" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:")