CVE-2023-2779 in Social Share, Social Login and Social Comments Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/19/2023
The Social Share, Social Login and Social Comments WordPress plugin before 7.13.52 does not sanitise and escape a parameter before outputting it back in the page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting which could be used against high privilege users such as admin.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/25/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-2779 affects the Social Share, Social Login and Social Comments WordPress plugin version 7.13.52 and earlier. This represents a critical security flaw that arises from improper input validation and output sanitization practices within the plugin's codebase. The issue manifests as a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability that specifically targets high-privilege users including administrators, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where administrative access can lead to complete system compromise.
The technical flaw occurs when the plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user-supplied parameters before incorporating them into HTML output within web pages. This omission creates an opening for attackers to inject malicious scripts that will execute in the context of authenticated users' browsers. The reflected nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payload must be crafted to be included in a URL or HTTP request parameter that gets immediately reflected back to the user's browser without proper sanitization. This allows attackers to construct malicious URLs that, when clicked by an administrator, will execute the injected code in the admin context.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe given that it specifically targets high-privilege users such as administrators. When an admin user clicks on a maliciously crafted link, the reflected XSS payload executes in their browser session, potentially allowing attackers to steal session cookies, perform actions on behalf of the administrator, modify plugin settings, or even gain complete administrative control over the WordPress installation. The vulnerability's exposure to administrative users significantly amplifies its risk profile, as administrative privileges provide extensive access to system configuration, user management, and content manipulation capabilities.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in software applications. The issue also maps to ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering tactics including the use of malicious links to execute code in targeted user environments. The reflected XSS nature of the vulnerability means that attackers can leverage this weakness through various attack vectors including phishing campaigns, compromised websites, or social media platforms where they can distribute malicious links. Organizations should immediately update to version 7.13.52 or later of the plugin to remediate this vulnerability and implement additional security measures such as web application firewalls, input validation monitoring, and regular security audits of installed WordPress plugins to prevent similar issues from occurring in other components of their web infrastructure.
The remediation strategy should include immediate patching of the affected plugin to the latest secure version, followed by comprehensive security assessments of all installed plugins and themes. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and output escaping mechanisms throughout the application codebase, along with regular security monitoring and user access controls, will help prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future.