CVE-2020-9334 in Photo Gallery Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
A stored XSS vulnerability exists in the Envira Photo Gallery plugin through 1.7.6 for WordPress. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability would allow a authenticated low-privileged user to inject arbitrary JavaScript code that is viewed by other users.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2025
The CVE-2020-9334 vulnerability represents a critical stored cross-site scripting flaw within the Envira Photo Gallery WordPress plugin version 1.7.6 and earlier. This vulnerability specifically targets the plugin's handling of user input during the gallery creation and management processes, where unfiltered data enters the application's database and subsequently renders in user-facing interfaces without proper sanitization. The flaw enables attackers to inject malicious JavaScript payloads that persist in the database and execute whenever other users view the affected gallery content, making it a classic stored XSS vulnerability that can affect multiple users simultaneously.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an authenticated user with low privileges accesses the plugin's administrative interface to create or modify gallery configurations. During this process, the plugin fails to adequately validate or sanitize user-supplied input parameters, allowing malicious code to be stored in the WordPress database. When other users browse pages containing the affected galleries, their browsers execute the stored JavaScript code within their browser context, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the trust relationship between the WordPress platform and its plugins, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-9334 extends beyond simple code execution as it can enable attackers to escalate privileges within the WordPress environment, manipulate content, or establish persistent backdoors through the execution of malicious scripts. The vulnerability affects any user with sufficient permissions to create or modify galleries, which in many WordPress installations includes contributors, authors, or editors, depending on the site's role configuration. Attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to access sensitive user data, modify gallery content, or even compromise the entire WordPress installation if the attacker can escalate privileges through additional vectors. This represents a significant risk to WordPress sites that rely heavily on user-generated content management and gallery display functionalities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-9334 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions 1.7.7 or later where the vulnerability has been patched. Organizations should implement strict input validation and output encoding measures within their WordPress installations, ensuring that all user-supplied data undergoes proper sanitization before being stored or rendered. Network segmentation and role-based access controls can help limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities by restricting which users can access gallery management interfaces. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers and regular security audits of WordPress plugins can provide additional layers of protection against similar stored XSS vulnerabilities. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for script execution, demonstrating how initial access through privilege escalation can lead to broader system compromise.