CVE-2025-57938: Easy Hotel Booking DOM-Based XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-57938 Overview

CVE-2025-57938 is a DOM-Based Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the themewant Easy Hotel Booking WordPress plugin (easy-hotel). The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.9.0. It stems from improper neutralization of input during web page generation, tracked as [CWE-79].

An authenticated attacker with low privileges can inject malicious script content that executes in a victim's browser after user interaction. Successful exploitation crosses a security scope boundary and impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability at a limited level. The vulnerability was published to the National Vulnerability Database on September 22, 2025.

Critical Impact
Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in victim browsers, enabling session theft, credential harvesting, and unauthorized actions in the WordPress admin context.

Affected Products

themewant Easy Hotel Booking plugin for WordPress
All versions from initial release through 1.9.0
WordPress sites using the easy-hotel plugin identifier

Discovery Timeline

2025-09-22 - CVE CVE-2025-57938 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-57938

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a DOM-Based XSS flaw in the Easy Hotel Booking plugin. Unlike reflected or stored XSS, DOM-Based XSS executes entirely within the client-side browser. The plugin writes attacker-controllable input into the Document Object Model without proper sanitization or encoding.

Exploitation requires an authenticated user with low privileges to submit crafted input. The victim must interact with the malicious content for the payload to trigger. Because the attack crosses a scope boundary, injected scripts can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component, including the broader WordPress site context.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of user-supplied input before it is inserted into web page output generated by the plugin. The plugin fails to apply context-aware output encoding or use safe DOM APIs when writing dynamic content. This allows JavaScript syntax embedded in input to be parsed and executed by the browser.

Attack Vector

The attack is delivered over the network and requires low attacker privileges plus victim interaction. A typical attack chain involves the attacker crafting a request or link containing a JavaScript payload. When the victim loads the page or interacts with the crafted content, the plugin renders the input into the DOM. The browser then parses the injected script and executes it under the origin of the WordPress site.

Refer to the Patchstack XSS Vulnerability Advisory for additional technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-57938

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected <script> tags, javascript: URIs, or event handler attributes (onerror, onload) in Easy Hotel Booking form fields or stored records
Anomalous outbound requests from admin browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading booking-related pages
WordPress admin sessions performing unauthorized configuration changes without corresponding user activity
Browser console errors referencing content injected via plugin-controlled DOM elements

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for requests to Easy Hotel Booking endpoints containing URL-encoded script fragments or common XSS payload markers
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with signatures for DOM-Based XSS payloads targeting WordPress plugins
Enforce a strict Content Security Policy (CSP) and monitor CSP violation reports for blocked inline scripts

Monitoring Recommendations

Track WordPress user activity for privilege escalation or plugin configuration changes originating from compromised sessions
Alert on new administrator account creation or modifications to authentication-related settings
Correlate authenticated plugin requests with browser telemetry to identify unauthorized script execution

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-57938

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all WordPress installations running the easy-hotel plugin at version 1.9.0 or earlier
Restrict access to the plugin's authenticated endpoints while a patched version is evaluated
Rotate credentials for WordPress accounts that may have been exposed to malicious page loads
Review recent admin activity for unauthorized configuration changes or account additions

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no vendor-supplied patched version is referenced in the NVD entry. The advisory indicates the vulnerability affects Easy Hotel Booking through version 1.9.0. Site operators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the plugin's WordPress.org page for a fixed release.

Workarounds

Deactivate and remove the Easy Hotel Booking plugin until a patched release is available
Deploy a WAF rule set that blocks XSS payloads targeting WordPress plugin endpoints
Implement a restrictive CSP header that disallows inline scripts and unauthorized script sources
Limit low-privileged account creation and audit existing accounts to reduce the pool of potential attackers

bash

# Example restrictive Content Security Policy header for WordPress (nginx)
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self'; frame-ancestors 'self';" always;