CVE-2025-2579: Lottie Player WordPress Plugin XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-2579 Overview

The Lottie Player plugin for WordPress contains a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting all versions up to and including 1.1.8. The flaw stems from insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the plugin's file upload handling. Authenticated users with Author-level access or higher can inject arbitrary web scripts that execute when other users access the uploaded file. The issue is tracked as [CWE-79] and was patched in version 1.2.0.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with Author privileges can plant persistent JavaScript payloads that execute in the browser sessions of site visitors and administrators, enabling session theft, account takeover, and further site compromise.

Affected Products

Lottie Player WordPress plugin (embed-lottie-player) versions up to and including 1.1.8
WordPress sites permitting Author-level or higher account registration
Any installation of the plugin prior to version 1.2.0

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-24 - CVE-2025-2579 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-2579

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Lottie Player plugin's file upload handling logic, specifically in plugin.php around lines 82 and 130 of the 1.1.8 release. The plugin accepts uploaded files intended for Lottie animation rendering but fails to properly sanitize input or escape output when those files are later rendered in the browser. An authenticated user with Author-level access or above can upload a crafted file containing embedded JavaScript. When a visitor or administrator loads the page referencing the uploaded content, the browser executes the attacker-controlled script in the context of the WordPress site's origin.

Exploitation requires an existing authenticated account, which limits opportunistic attacks. However, WordPress sites that allow open registration or provide contributor and author accounts to loosely vetted users remain exposed. Successful exploitation can lead to session hijacking, administrative account takeover through cookie theft, defacement, or the injection of malicious redirects. Because the payload is stored server-side, every subsequent page view triggers the payload without further attacker interaction.

Root Cause

The plugin does not enforce strict validation on the content of uploaded files, nor does it apply proper output escaping when rendering the file contents inside HTML pages. This combination allows script content to survive the upload and reach the browser as executable markup rather than inert data.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires low privileges. An attacker authenticates to the WordPress instance with at least Author-level access, uploads a file containing embedded scripting content through the plugin, then references or shares the resulting URL. Any user visiting the page executes the injected script in the site's browser origin.

No verified public exploit code is available. Refer to the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the affected plugin source at line 130 for technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-2579

Indicators of Compromise

Uploaded files in the WordPress uploads directory containing <script> tags, event handler attributes such as onerror or onload, or javascript: URIs.
Unexpected outbound requests from visitor browsers to attacker-controlled domains originating from pages rendering Lottie Player content.
New or modified Author-level accounts on the WordPress instance that correlate with unusual upload activity.

Detection Strategies

Audit the wp-content/uploads/ directory for files served through the Lottie Player plugin and scan their contents for script markup or HTML event handlers.
Review WordPress database wp_posts and wp_postmeta entries referencing the plugin's shortcode for suspicious inline content.
Monitor web server access logs for repeated requests to plugin-rendered pages from anomalous referrers or IP addresses.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable file integrity monitoring on the WordPress uploads directory and plugin files.
Log and alert on file uploads performed by non-administrator accounts, particularly Author and Contributor roles.
Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) headers and monitor CSP violation reports for unexpected inline script execution.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-2579

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade the Lottie Player plugin to version 1.2.0 or later on all WordPress installations.
Audit Author-level and higher accounts, removing or rotating credentials for accounts that are not actively required.
Inspect existing uploaded files handled by the plugin and remove any containing script content or suspicious markup.

Patch Information

The vendor addressed the vulnerability in version 1.2.0 of the embed-lottie-player plugin. Review the patched source code and the plugin developer page for release details. Sites using the WordPress automatic plugin update feature should confirm the upgrade completed successfully.

Workarounds

Restrict user registration and limit the assignment of Author-level or higher roles until the plugin can be updated.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that inspects uploaded file contents for script markup and blocks the request.
Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline script execution to reduce the impact of any stored payload.

bash

# Update the Lottie Player plugin using WP-CLI
wp plugin update embed-lottie-player --version=1.2.0

# Verify the installed version
wp plugin get embed-lottie-player --field=version