CVE-2025-57908: WooCommerce Product Countdown XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-57908 Overview

CVE-2025-57908 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] in the ProWCPlugins Product Time Countdown for WooCommerce WordPress plugin. The flaw affects all plugin versions from initial release through 1.6.5. An authenticated attacker with high privileges can inject malicious JavaScript that persists in the database and executes in the browsers of users viewing affected pages. Exploitation requires user interaction and can lead to session theft, administrative action hijacking, and further compromise of the WordPress site.

Critical Impact
Stored JavaScript payloads execute in the context of site visitors and administrators, enabling account takeover and cross-site data theft within WooCommerce storefronts.

Affected Products

ProWCPlugins Product Time Countdown for WooCommerce plugin versions through 1.6.5
WordPress sites running WooCommerce with the product-countdown-for-woocommerce plugin
Any storefront rendering countdown output generated by the vulnerable plugin

Discovery Timeline

2025-09-22 - CVE-2025-57908 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-57908

Vulnerability Analysis

The plugin fails to properly neutralize user-supplied input before rendering it inside WooCommerce product pages. An authenticated user with sufficient privileges submits crafted input through plugin fields controlling countdown timers or product configuration. The plugin stores the payload without sanitization and later reflects it into HTML output.

When a shopper or administrator loads a page containing the malicious countdown data, the browser parses the injected script tags and executes attacker-controlled JavaScript. The scope change component of the CVSS vector indicates the injected code can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component, such as the administrator session context.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing output encoding and input sanitization on countdown configuration fields. WordPress provides helpers such as sanitize_text_field(), wp_kses_post(), and esc_html() for this purpose. The plugin does not apply these routines consistently on the affected input path, allowing raw HTML and JavaScript to persist in the WordPress options or post meta store.

Attack Vector

An attacker with high-privilege access, such as a shop manager or editor role granted to a compromised staff account, submits a crafted payload through the plugin's product configuration interface. The payload is stored in the database. When a victim loads a product page or admin screen that renders the tainted data, the injected script executes.

Attackers can use the injected script to steal session cookies, issue authenticated administrative requests, deface storefront pages, or pivot to install malicious plugins. The victim must load an affected page for the script to fire, satisfying the user interaction requirement.

For technical details, see the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-57908

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script>, <iframe>, or event-handler attributes stored in WooCommerce product meta or plugin options
Outbound requests from browsers visiting product pages to unfamiliar domains
Administrator sessions performing actions from anomalous IP addresses shortly after visiting product pages
Newly created administrator accounts or modified plugin lists following visits to affected storefront URLs

Detection Strategies

Inventory WordPress sites and identify installations of product-countdown-for-woocommerce at version 1.6.5 or earlier
Query the wp_postmeta and wp_options tables for stored HTML tags or JavaScript event handlers within plugin-controlled keys
Review web server logs for POST requests to plugin administration endpoints containing HTML-encoded script content
Monitor Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports for inline script blocks originating from product pages

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable request logging on /wp-admin/ endpoints and correlate authenticated write actions with subsequent front-end script execution
Alert on file integrity changes to plugin directories and unexpected modifications to WooCommerce product records
Track privilege changes and new user creation events in WordPress audit logs
Deploy browser telemetry or CSP report-uri collection to identify script injection attempts against site visitors

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-57908

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Product Time Countdown for WooCommerce plugin to a version released after 1.6.5 once available from ProWCPlugins
Audit administrator, editor, and shop manager accounts and revoke access for unused or shared credentials
Inspect existing plugin configuration and product metadata for injected HTML or JavaScript content and remove any payloads
Rotate WordPress administrator passwords and force session invalidation across all privileged accounts

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the Patchstack advisory reports the vulnerability affects versions through 1.6.5. Administrators should consult the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Advisory and the plugin listing on WordPress.org for the latest patched release before deployment.

Workarounds

Deactivate and remove the plugin until a patched version is installed if the countdown feature is not business-critical
Restrict access to plugin configuration screens using role management to trusted administrators only
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule blocking HTML tags and JavaScript event handlers in POST parameters targeting the plugin's admin endpoints
Implement a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts on WooCommerce product pages

bash

# Example Content-Security-Policy header for WooCommerce product pages
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' https://trusted-cdn.example.com; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self'; report-uri /csp-report