CVE-2022-4672 in Simple Shopping Cart Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/23/2023
The WordPress Simple Shopping Cart WordPress plugin before 4.6.2 does not validate and escape some of its shortcode attributes before outputting them back in the page, which could allow users with a role as low as contributor to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting attacks which could be used against high privilege users such as admins.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/03/2025
The vulnerability identified in CVE-2022-4672 affects the WordPress Simple Shopping Cart plugin version 4.6.1 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that enables stored cross-site scripting attacks through insufficient input validation and output escaping mechanisms. This issue specifically targets the plugin's shortcode attributes handling, creating a pathway for malicious actors to inject persistent malicious scripts into the WordPress environment. The vulnerability's severity is amplified by the fact that it can be exploited by users with relatively low privileges, including contributors who typically have limited administrative capabilities. The affected plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user-supplied input before rendering it back to the page, creating a persistent XSS vector that can affect high-privilege users such as administrators.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to apply proper input validation and output escaping to shortcode attributes within its rendering logic. When users with contributor roles create or modify content containing plugin shortcodes, the system does not adequately filter or escape potentially malicious input parameters. This oversight allows attackers to inject JavaScript code through shortcode attributes that are then stored in the database and executed whenever the content is rendered. The vulnerability manifests as a stored XSS condition because the malicious scripts are persisted in the database rather than being reflected in a single request, making the attack more dangerous and persistent. The flaw directly violates security best practices for input sanitization and output escaping as defined in the OWASP Top Ten and other industry standards.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it creates a persistent threat vector that can be leveraged for privilege escalation and data theft. High-privilege users such as administrators who view pages containing the malicious shortcodes become vulnerable to attacks that could result in complete system compromise. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to steal administrator session cookies, execute commands on the server, or redirect users to malicious sites. The stored nature of the XSS means that once the malicious code is injected, it continues to execute against any user who views the affected content, potentially affecting multiple administrators over time. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where administrators regularly review content created by contributors or other lower-privilege users.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-4672 require immediate action to upgrade to the patched version 4.6.2 or later, which addresses the input validation and output escaping deficiencies. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation for all user-supplied content, particularly within shortcode parameters, and ensure that all output is properly escaped before rendering. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring for suspicious shortcode usage and regular security audits of installed plugins. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which describes Cross-Site Scripting flaws, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter usage. Organizations should maintain updated threat intelligence feeds and ensure their WordPress installations remain current with security patches to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the broader WordPress ecosystem.