CVE-2025-50014 Overview
CVE-2025-50014 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the PDPA Consent for Thailand WordPress plugin developed by iamapinan. The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.1.1. Attackers with high privileges can inject persistent JavaScript payloads that execute in the browsers of users who view affected pages. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79 for improper neutralization of input during web page generation. Because the injected script executes in a changed security scope, a successful attack can compromise low-integrity data, expose limited confidential information, and affect availability across the affected site.
Critical Impact
Stored JavaScript payloads persist in the plugin and execute against site visitors and administrators, enabling session theft, content manipulation, and pivoting into further WordPress account compromise.
Affected Products
- iamapinan PDPA Consent for Thailand (pdpa-consent) plugin
- All versions from initial release through 1.1.1
- WordPress sites running the vulnerable plugin
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-06-20 - CVE-2025-50014 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-50014
Vulnerability Analysis
The PDPA Consent for Thailand plugin fails to properly neutralize user-supplied input before rendering it inside generated web pages. An authenticated attacker with high privileges submits crafted input containing HTML or JavaScript through plugin-controlled fields. The plugin stores this input in the WordPress database without sufficient encoding or sanitization. When the stored content is later rendered in a page, the browser interprets the attacker-controlled payload as executable script.
Exploitation requires user interaction, meaning a victim must load a page that renders the poisoned data. The impact crosses a security boundary because the script runs in the trusted origin of the WordPress site. This scope change allows the attacker to influence content and actions in the victim's authenticated session.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or insufficient output encoding in the plugin's rendering logic combined with weak input sanitization on write. The plugin trusts privileged operator input and reflects it into HTML contexts without applying WordPress escaping functions such as esc_html(), esc_attr(), or wp_kses(). This pattern is the canonical [CWE-79] Stored XSS defect.
Attack Vector
An attacker with high-privilege access, such as an administrator or editor, submits a payload containing script content into a vulnerable plugin field. The payload persists in the site database. When another user, including higher-privileged administrators or site visitors, loads the affected page, the script executes in their browser. The attacker can then steal session cookies, perform actions on behalf of the victim, or redirect users to attacker-controlled infrastructure. Refer to the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Report for additional context.
No public proof-of-concept exploit code has been released. See the vendor advisory referenced above for technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-50014
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags, event handlers such as onerror or onload, or javascript: URIs stored in plugin-related rows of the wp_options or wp_postmeta tables.
- Outbound requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading pages containing plugin content.
- New or modified WordPress administrator accounts that correlate with visits to pages rendering plugin data.
Detection Strategies
- Review plugin database entries for HTML or JavaScript syntax that should not appear in consent configuration text.
- Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that flag script-like payloads submitted to admin.php endpoints associated with the pdpa-consent plugin.
- Correlate WordPress audit logs of plugin setting changes with browser telemetry showing subsequent script execution on rendered pages.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to capture inline script violations originating from plugin-rendered pages.
- Monitor WordPress user session activity for privilege changes and unauthorized administrative actions.
- Track version metadata across managed WordPress sites to identify installations still running pdpa-consent versions at or below 1.1.1.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-50014
Immediate Actions Required
- Identify all WordPress sites running the PDPA Consent for Thailand plugin at version 1.1.1 or earlier.
- Deactivate the plugin until a patched version is installed if configuration cannot be verified as clean.
- Audit plugin settings and database entries for injected script content and remove any suspicious values.
- Rotate credentials and force re-authentication for administrative users who accessed affected pages.
Patch Information
At the time of publication, the Patchstack advisory lists the vulnerability as affecting versions up to and including 1.1.1. Site operators should upgrade to a plugin release above 1.1.1 when available from the vendor, or replace the plugin if no fixed release is published.
Workarounds
- Restrict administrator and editor access using strong authentication and least-privilege role assignments to reduce the pool of users capable of exploitation.
- Deploy a WAF policy that blocks HTML and JavaScript syntax in POST parameters targeting the plugin's configuration endpoints.
- Apply a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on WordPress admin and public pages rendering plugin content.
- Remove the pdpa-consent plugin entirely if the PDPA consent functionality is not required.
# Configuration example: locate and disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin list --name=pdpa-consent --fields=name,status,version
wp plugin deactivate pdpa-consent
# Optional: remove after backing up configuration
wp plugin uninstall pdpa-consent
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
