CVE-2025-13884
📋 TL;DR
The Hide Email Address WordPress plugin has a stored XSS vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers with Contributor access or higher to inject malicious scripts into website pages. These scripts execute whenever users visit the compromised pages, potentially stealing credentials or performing unauthorized actions. All WordPress sites using this plugin up to version 0.1 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Hide Email Address 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
Attackers could steal administrator credentials, take over the WordPress site, install backdoors, deface the website, or redirect visitors to malicious sites.
Likely Case
Attackers with contributor access inject malicious scripts to steal session cookies or user credentials, potentially escalating privileges to gain full site control.
If Mitigated
With proper user role management and input validation, the impact is limited to low-privilege user account compromise.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is straightforward once attacker has contributor privileges.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.2 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/bg-hide-email-address/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Hide Email Address' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available. 5. If no update appears, deactivate and delete the plugin, then install the latest version from WordPress repository.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Plugin
allTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate bg-hide-email-address
Restrict User Roles
allTemporarily restrict contributor-level access or review user permissions
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads in shortcode parameters
- Regularly audit user accounts and remove unnecessary contributor-level access
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Installed Plugins for 'Hide Email Address' plugin version 0.1 or earlierCheck Version:
wp plugin get bg-hide-email-address --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 0.2 or later in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests containing 'inline_css' parameter with script tags
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful contributor login
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with encoded JavaScript in URL parameters
- Outbound connections to suspicious domains after page load
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("inline_css" AND ("script" OR "javascript" OR "onload" OR "onerror"))🔗 References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bg-hide-email-address/tags/0.1/BgHideEmailAddress.php#L101
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bg-hide-email-address/trunk/BgHideEmailAddress.php#L101
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a770ab37-127a-4018-9ffa-1b326d5a016e?source=cve
