CVE-2025-2874 Overview
CVE-2025-2874 is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 20240319. It stems from insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the plugin's admin settings interface. Authenticated attackers with administrator-level permissions can inject arbitrary JavaScript that executes when other users view affected pages. The issue is scoped to WordPress multi-site installations and installations where the unfiltered_html capability has been disabled.
Critical Impact
Administrator-level attackers on multi-site WordPress deployments can inject persistent JavaScript payloads that execute in the browsers of visiting users, enabling session theft or malicious redirects.
Affected Products
- User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End plugin for WordPress
- All versions up to and including 20240319
- WordPress multi-site deployments and single-site deployments with unfiltered_html disabled
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-04-03 - CVE-2025-2874 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-2874
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability is a stored XSS flaw classified under CWE-79. It exists in the plugin's admin settings handlers. The plugin accepts configuration values from privileged users without applying proper sanitization on input or escaping on output. When these settings are later rendered in the WordPress admin interface or on front-end pages that consume plugin configuration, the injected script executes in the context of the viewing user's browser.
Because exploitation requires administrator privileges, the attack surface is limited to environments where administrators are not fully trusted. On WordPress multi-site installations, network administrators are typically the only accounts permitted to inject raw HTML through the unfiltered_html capability. On single-site installations with unfiltered_html explicitly disabled, the same privilege boundary applies. The plugin flaw bypasses this restriction by allowing script content to persist through settings storage.
Root Cause
The plugin fails to call WordPress sanitization functions such as sanitize_text_field() or wp_kses() on settings input, and does not apply esc_html() or esc_attr() when rendering stored values. This permits raw <script> tags and event-handler attributes to be persisted and later reflected without encoding.
Attack Vector
An authenticated attacker with administrator-level access submits a crafted payload through the plugin's admin settings form. The malicious value is stored in the WordPress options table. When another authenticated user or site visitor renders a page containing the setting, the browser parses and executes the payload. Impact includes session hijacking, credential theft through fake login prompts, and unauthorized administrative actions performed in the victim's session context.
No verified exploit code has been published. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Analysis for additional technical detail.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-2874
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags, on* event handlers, or javascript: URIs stored in the wp_options table entries related to the User Submitted Posts plugin.
- Outbound requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading plugin settings pages.
- New or modified administrator accounts created immediately after a session in which the plugin admin page was accessed.
Detection Strategies
- Audit the wp_options table for plugin-owned keys and inspect stored values for HTML or JavaScript content.
- Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to surface inline script execution within WordPress admin pages.
- Correlate WordPress audit logs of settings changes with subsequent anomalous administrator activity.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Log all changes to plugin settings and alert on write operations from administrator accounts outside expected maintenance windows.
- Monitor web server responses for reflected script content originating from plugin-rendered pages.
- Track browser-side errors and CSP violations reported by administrators using the WordPress dashboard.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-2874
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the User Submitted Posts plugin to a version released after 20240319 that contains the fix referenced in the WordPress Plugin Changeset.
- Review all plugin settings for previously injected script content and remove any unauthorized values.
- Rotate credentials and session tokens for administrators who accessed the plugin settings page during the exposure window.
Patch Information
The plugin maintainer addressed the flaw in the changeset published on the WordPress plugin repository. Site operators should apply the update through the WordPress admin dashboard or via wp-cli using wp plugin update user-submitted-posts. Verify the installed version reports a release later than 20240319 after the update completes.
Workarounds
- Restrict administrator accounts on multi-site installations to a minimal set of trusted operators until the patch is applied.
- Enable the DISALLOW_UNFILTERED_HTML constant only alongside the plugin update, since disabling it without patching preserves the attack surface.
- Apply a Content Security Policy that disallows inline script execution in the WordPress admin interface.
# Configuration example
wp plugin update user-submitted-posts
wp plugin get user-submitted-posts --field=version
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
