CVE-2025-2874
📋 TL;DR
This stored XSS vulnerability in the User Submitted Posts WordPress plugin allows authenticated administrators to inject malicious scripts into admin settings pages. The injected scripts execute when other users view those pages, potentially compromising their sessions or performing unauthorized actions. Only affects WordPress multi-site installations or sites where unfiltered_html capability is disabled.
💻 Affected Systems
- User Submitted Posts - Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 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 full site takeover, data theft, or malware distribution to site visitors.
Likely Case
Session hijacking of other administrators, privilege escalation, or defacement of admin interface.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to requiring admin credentials and specific WordPress configurations.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires administrator-level WordPress credentials and specific site configuration.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Versions after 20240319
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'User Submitted Posts' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. Alternatively, download latest version from WordPress plugin repository and replace plugin files.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allTemporarily disable the User Submitted Posts plugin until patched.
wp plugin deactivate user-submitted-posts
Enable unfiltered_html for admins
allEnable unfiltered_html capability for administrator roles (makes vulnerability inactive per CVE description).
Add define('DISALLOW_UNFILTERED_HTML', false); to wp-config.php
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict admin access to trusted personnel only and monitor admin activity logs.
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads in admin areas.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check plugin version in WordPress admin → Plugins → User Submitted Posts. If version is 20240319 or earlier, you are vulnerable if using multi-site OR unfiltered_html disabled.Check Version:
wp plugin get user-submitted-posts --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is newer than 20240319. Check that input sanitization is applied to admin settings fields.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual admin settings modifications
- JavaScript payloads in plugin option values
- Multiple admin login attempts
Network Indicators:
- Suspicious JavaScript in HTTP POST requests to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or similar endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("user-submitted-posts" OR "usp_admin") AND ("script" OR "javascript" OR "onload" OR "onerror")