CVE-2025-30627: Elegant Visitor Counter XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-30627 Overview

CVE-2025-30627 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the regolithsjk Elegant Visitor Counter WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of the plugin up to and including version 3.1. Improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation allows an authenticated attacker with high privileges to inject persistent JavaScript into pages rendered by the plugin [CWE-79]. Successful exploitation requires user interaction from a victim who loads the affected page. Because the vulnerability crosses a security scope boundary, injected script can affect other users of the WordPress site.

Critical Impact
An authenticated attacker can inject persistent JavaScript that executes in the browser of any user who views the affected WordPress page, enabling session theft, defacement, or redirection to attacker-controlled infrastructure.

Affected Products

Elegant Visitor Counter WordPress plugin (elegant-visitor-counter)
All versions from initial release through 3.1
Vendor: regolithsjk

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-06 - CVE-2025-30627 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-30627

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of input during web page generation within the Elegant Visitor Counter plugin. Input supplied through plugin configuration or data fields is stored server-side and later rendered in HTML without adequate output encoding. When an administrator or site visitor loads a page that includes the injected data, the browser interprets the payload as executable JavaScript. Because the payload persists in the WordPress database, exploitation continues until an administrator manually removes it or patches the plugin.

The vulnerability requires an authenticated actor with high privileges to insert the payload, which limits opportunistic mass exploitation. However, once injected, the payload executes in the context of every user who visits the affected page. This includes users with higher privileges than the attacker, enabling scope escalation such as administrator session hijacking.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient output encoding on stored plugin data rendered in the WordPress admin interface or front-end. The plugin does not apply WordPress escaping functions such as esc_html(), esc_attr(), or wp_kses() before echoing user-controlled values into the HTML response. This maps to CWE-79, Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation.

Attack Vector

An authenticated attacker with high-privilege access submits a crafted payload containing HTML or JavaScript into a plugin field that lacks server-side sanitization. The malicious content is stored in the WordPress database. When a victim loads a page that renders the stored data, the browser parses and executes the injected script. The attack requires user interaction, typically a page visit, to trigger payload execution.

Refer to the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report for additional technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-30627

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script>, <iframe>, or event-handler attributes (onerror, onload) stored in WordPress database tables associated with the Elegant Visitor Counter plugin.
Outbound HTTP requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading WordPress admin pages.
New or modified WordPress administrator accounts created without a corresponding audit-log entry.
Unexplained modifications to plugin settings or visitor-counter configuration rows.

Detection Strategies

Review the wp_options table and plugin-specific tables for HTML or JavaScript content in fields that should hold plain text or numeric values.
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) rule that inspects requests to plugin administrative endpoints for XSS payload patterns.
Enable a Content Security Policy (CSP) in report-only mode to surface unexpected inline script execution on WordPress pages.

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on writes to plugin configuration by non-standard administrator accounts or from unexpected IP ranges.
Log and review all changes to WordPress user roles and capabilities.
Monitor browser telemetry from administrator workstations for anomalous script execution or credential-form activity on WordPress admin pages.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-30627

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate the Elegant Visitor Counter plugin until a patched version is confirmed available from the vendor.
Audit the WordPress administrator account list and rotate credentials for any account with plugin-management privileges.
Inspect stored plugin data for injected payloads and remove any suspicious HTML or JavaScript content.
Force re-authentication for all administrator sessions to invalidate potentially hijacked cookies.

Patch Information

No fixed version is listed in the enriched CVE data at the time of publication. The advisory states the issue affects Elegant Visitor Counter from initial release through version 3.1. Consult the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report for the latest remediation guidance and any subsequent vendor release.

Workarounds

Restrict access to WordPress administrative endpoints using IP allow-listing at the reverse proxy or WAF layer.
Apply the principle of least privilege by limiting the number of accounts with plugin-management capabilities.
Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on WordPress admin and public pages.
Replace the plugin with an alternative visitor-counter solution that receives active maintenance.

bash

# Example: disable the plugin via WP-CLI until a patch is available
wp plugin deactivate elegant-visitor-counter

# Optional: remove the plugin entirely
wp plugin uninstall elegant-visitor-counter

# Example nginx allow-list for /wp-admin
# location ^~ /wp-admin/ {
#   allow 203.0.113.0/24;
#   deny all;
# }