CVE-2025-24620: AIO Shortcodes Stored XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-24620 Overview

CVE-2025-24620 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the AIO Shortcodes WordPress plugin developed by hkharpreetkumar1. The flaw affects all versions of AIO Shortcodes up to and including 1.3. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation, classified under [CWE-79]. Authenticated attackers can inject malicious JavaScript that executes in the browsers of users who view affected pages. The injected scripts persist in the database and execute every time the affected content loads.

Critical Impact
Stored XSS enables session hijacking, credential theft, and administrative account takeover on WordPress sites running vulnerable AIO Shortcodes installations.

Affected Products

AIO Shortcodes WordPress plugin versions through 1.3
WordPress sites with the aio-shortcodes plugin installed and activated
Author: hkharpreetkumar1

Discovery Timeline

2025-02-03 - CVE-2025-24620 published to NVD
2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-24620

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaw within the AIO Shortcodes plugin. The plugin fails to properly sanitize and encode user-supplied input before storing it and rendering it back in generated web pages. Attackers with contributor-level or higher permissions can inject crafted payloads through shortcode parameters or related input fields. The malicious payload is persisted in the WordPress database and executed in the context of any visitor or administrator who renders the affected content. Because the scope changes to impact other components, a successful attack can affect administrative sessions distinct from the attacker's own context.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing output encoding and inadequate input sanitization in the shortcode rendering pipeline. The plugin treats user-controlled values as trusted HTML when generating output, rather than escaping them with WordPress functions such as esc_html(), esc_attr(), or wp_kses(). This permits HTML and JavaScript constructs to be rendered as executable markup.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access and user interaction, but no privileged authentication beyond a low-privilege account capable of submitting shortcode content. The attacker stores a crafted payload through a vulnerable shortcode attribute or input field. When an administrator or visitor loads the page, the browser parses and executes the injected JavaScript. Possible outcomes include theft of session cookies, forced administrative actions through CSRF chaining, redirection to attacker-controlled domains, and persistent defacement.

The vulnerability mechanism is described in the Patchstack WordPress XSS Vulnerability advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-24620

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script> tags, onerror, onload, or javascript: URIs stored in WordPress wp_posts or wp_postmeta tables
Outbound browser requests from administrator sessions to unfamiliar external domains
New or modified administrator accounts created shortly after viewing affected pages
Anomalous session cookie reuse from unexpected IP addresses

Detection Strategies

Audit WordPress database content for shortcode attributes containing HTML event handlers or script payloads
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) ruleset for stored XSS patterns in plugin endpoints
Review server access logs for repeated POST requests to admin-ajax.php or post-edit endpoints with suspicious payloads
Use Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reporting to identify inline script execution attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor WordPress audit logs for content edits performed by contributor or author-level accounts
Alert on administrative privilege changes, plugin installations, and wp-config.php modifications
Track browser console errors and CSP violations reported by site visitors
Inventory installed plugin versions and flag any instance of aio-shortcodes at version 1.3 or earlier

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-24620

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate and remove the AIO Shortcodes plugin until a patched version is available
Audit all content created or modified by non-administrator users since the plugin was installed
Rotate WordPress administrator passwords and invalidate active sessions
Review user roles and remove any unauthorized accounts created during the exposure window

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no fixed version of AIO Shortcodes has been confirmed in the advisory. Versions through 1.3 are affected. Site operators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the WordPress plugin repository for an updated release.

Workarounds

Remove the aio-shortcodes plugin directory from wp-content/plugins/ until a patch is released
Restrict contributor and author role assignments to trusted users only
Deploy a Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts and unauthorized external script sources
Place a WAF in front of the WordPress site to filter XSS payloads in POST parameters

bash

# Disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate aio-shortcodes
wp plugin delete aio-shortcodes

# Apply a restrictive Content Security Policy header in nginx
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self';" always;