CVE-2025-54044: Elite Video Player XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-54044 Overview

CVE-2025-54044 is a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the _CreativeMedia_ Elite Video Player WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all versions of elite-video-player up to and including 10.0.5. It stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation, classified as [CWE-79].

Attackers can craft malicious URLs that, when clicked by an authenticated or unauthenticated victim, execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser session. The scope is changed because injected script can run in the context of the WordPress site, enabling session theft, defacement, or redirection to attacker-controlled infrastructure.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation enables arbitrary JavaScript execution in the victim's browser, leading to session hijacking, credential theft, and unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the user.

Affected Products

• Elite Video Player WordPress plugin by _CreativeMedia_
• All versions from initial release through 10.0.5
• WordPress sites with the vulnerable plugin installed and enabled

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-08-20 - CVE-2025-54044 published to NVD
• 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-54044

Vulnerability Analysis

The Elite Video Player plugin fails to sanitize or encode user-controllable input before reflecting it into HTML output. This produces a reflected XSS condition where attacker-supplied data in a request parameter is rendered directly into the response page without proper output encoding.

Reflected XSS requires user interaction. An attacker must persuade a victim to click a crafted link or submit a malicious form. Once triggered, the injected payload executes within the origin of the WordPress site hosting the vulnerable plugin.

Because the CVSS scope is changed, payload execution can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component itself, such as the surrounding WordPress administrative interface when an authenticated administrator is targeted.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing input validation and output encoding in one or more request handlers exposed by the elite-video-player plugin. User-controlled parameters flow into the HTTP response body without being passed through WordPress sanitization functions such as esc_html(), esc_attr(), or wp_kses().

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires user interaction. An attacker hosts or distributes a URL containing an XSS payload targeting a vulnerable endpoint exposed by the plugin. When a victim with an active WordPress session visits the URL, the malicious script executes in the victim's browser context. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-54044

Indicators of Compromise

• HTTP requests to elite-video-player plugin endpoints containing URL-encoded <script> tags, javascript: schemes, or HTML event handlers such as onerror= and onload=.
• Web server access logs showing suspicious query strings reflecting back into 200 OK responses from /wp-content/plugins/elite-video-player/ paths.
• Unexpected outbound browser requests from users who visited a WordPress page hosting the plugin, indicating cookie exfiltration or beaconing.

Detection Strategies

• Inspect web application firewall (WAF) logs for reflected XSS signatures targeting parameters processed by the Elite Video Player plugin.
• Audit installed WordPress plugins for the presence of elite-video-player at version 10.0.5 or earlier.
• Use vulnerability scanners with current WordPress plugin signature databases to flag affected installations.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to capture script-source violations indicative of injection attempts.
• Monitor referrer headers and request parameters for anomalous payload patterns associated with XSS exploitation.
• Alert on administrative session activity originating from unusual IP addresses shortly after page views involving plugin-rendered content.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-54044

Immediate Actions Required

• Identify all WordPress sites running the Elite Video Player plugin at version 10.0.5 or earlier.
• Disable or remove the plugin until a patched version is verified and applied.
• Force a WordPress administrator password reset and invalidate active sessions if exploitation is suspected.

Patch Information

No fixed version is referenced in the available NVD data. Consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the plugin vendor for the latest fixed release, and update to a version higher than 10.0.5 once published.

Workarounds

• Deploy a WAF rule that blocks requests containing typical XSS payload patterns directed at plugin endpoints.
• Apply a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts and restricts script sources to trusted origins.
• Restrict access to WordPress administrative pages by IP allow-listing to reduce the impact window for authenticated victim targeting.

# Example WAF rule pattern (ModSecurity) to block reflected XSS payloads on plugin paths
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-content/plugins/elite-video-player/" \
  "chain,deny,status:403,id:1005404,msg:'Block XSS attempt against Elite Video Player'"
SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(<script|javascript:|onerror=|onload=)" "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni"