CVE-2025-48349: Smart Grid Gallery Stored XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-48349 Overview

CVE-2025-48349 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the origincode Video Gallery – Vimeo and YouTube Gallery WordPress plugin (smart-grid-gallery). The flaw stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation [CWE-79]. Attackers with authenticated low-privilege access can inject malicious JavaScript that executes in the browsers of users viewing affected pages. All plugin versions up to and including 1.1.7 are affected. The issue impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability at a limited scope, but changes security scope by executing script in the context of visiting users.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can store malicious JavaScript in gallery content that executes in administrator and visitor sessions, enabling session theft, account takeover, and delivery of secondary payloads.

Affected Products

WordPress plugin: Video Gallery – Vimeo and YouTube Gallery (smart-grid-gallery)
Affected versions: all releases up to and including 1.1.7
Vendor: origincode

Discovery Timeline

2025-08-28 - CVE-2025-48349 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-48349

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a stored XSS issue in the smart-grid-gallery plugin. User-controlled input is written to persistent storage and later rendered in web pages without sufficient output encoding or input sanitization. When an administrator or visitor loads a page containing the tainted content, the browser interprets the attacker-supplied payload as executable JavaScript. Because the CVSS vector indicates a scope change (S:C), the injected script runs in a security context different from the vulnerable component, typically the WordPress admin or front-end user session. The vector also indicates user interaction is required, meaning a victim must load the compromised gallery view for the payload to trigger.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient neutralization of HTML and JavaScript metacharacters in gallery configuration fields exposed to authenticated users. The plugin renders these values back into the DOM without escaping, allowing <script> tags and event-handler attributes to survive server-side processing.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access and low-privilege authenticated credentials on the WordPress site. An attacker submits a crafted payload into a gallery field the plugin fails to sanitize. The payload persists in the WordPress database. When another user, including higher-privileged administrators, views a page rendering that gallery, the script executes in their browser. Consult the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report for additional technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-48349

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script> tags, onerror, onload, or javascript: URIs stored in wp_posts, wp_postmeta, or plugin-specific tables related to smart-grid-gallery.
Outbound requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading gallery pages.
New or modified WordPress administrator accounts created without a corresponding legitimate workflow.

Detection Strategies

Audit database entries associated with the plugin for HTML tags and JavaScript event handlers that should not appear in gallery metadata.
Review web server access logs for POST requests from low-privilege accounts to plugin endpoints containing encoded script payloads.
Deploy a Content Security Policy (CSP) in report-only mode to surface inline script executions originating from plugin-rendered pages.

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on WordPress role or capability changes and creation of new administrator accounts.
Monitor authenticated sessions for anomalous API calls to /wp-json/wp/v2/users or /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php following gallery page views.
Track plugin version inventory across managed WordPress sites and flag any instance still running smart-grid-gallery 1.1.7 or earlier.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-48349

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Video Gallery – Vimeo and YouTube Gallery plugin to a version later than 1.1.7 once the vendor publishes a fix.
Restrict Contributor, Author, and Editor accounts to the minimum required and audit users who can create or edit gallery content.
Rotate administrator credentials and invalidate active sessions if suspicious gallery content is discovered.

Patch Information

At the time of the NVD entry, the advisory identifies all versions up to and including 1.1.7 as vulnerable. Administrators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the plugin's WordPress.org page for a patched release and apply it immediately upon availability.

Workarounds

Deactivate and remove the smart-grid-gallery plugin until a patched version is available.
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that blocks HTML and JavaScript metacharacters in requests targeting the plugin's admin endpoints.
Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on WordPress front-end and admin pages.

bash

# Example: disable the plugin via WP-CLI until a patch is applied
wp plugin deactivate smart-grid-gallery
wp plugin delete smart-grid-gallery