CVE-2023-28778 in Pagination Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/22/2023
Auth. (admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in BestWebSoft Pagination plugin <= 1.2.2 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/17/2023
The CVE-2023-28778 vulnerability represents a critical security flaw in the BestWebSoft Pagination plugin affecting versions 1.2.2 and earlier. This vulnerability falls under the category of stored cross-site scripting attacks, which occur when malicious scripts are permanently stored on the target server and then executed when users access the affected pages. The vulnerability specifically requires administrative privileges or higher to exploit, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by authenticated attackers who have already gained access to administrative functions within the WordPress environment.
The technical implementation of this flaw stems from inadequate input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's codebase. When administrators configure pagination settings or handle user-generated content through the plugin's interface, the system fails to properly validate and sanitize user inputs before storing them in the database. This allows malicious actors to inject malicious JavaScript code into fields that are subsequently rendered on web pages without proper encoding or filtering. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payloads persist in the database and are executed every time the affected pages are accessed by any user, including unsuspecting visitors or lower-privileged administrators who may not have direct access to the plugin configuration.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risks for WordPress websites utilizing the affected plugin. An attacker with administrative access can inject malicious scripts that could steal session cookies, redirect users to phishing sites, deface the website, or even establish persistent backdoors within the WordPress installation. The stored nature of the XSS vulnerability means that the attack can affect multiple users over time without requiring repeated exploitation attempts. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where administrators may not immediately notice the injection of malicious code. The impact extends beyond simple script execution as the malicious code could potentially be used to escalate privileges, exfiltrate sensitive data, or perform other malicious activities that compromise the entire WordPress installation and potentially the underlying server infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-28778 should prioritize immediate action to update to the patched version of the BestWebSoft Pagination plugin, as this represents the most effective solution to address the root cause of the vulnerability. Organizations should also implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding practices across their WordPress installations, ensuring that all user inputs are properly sanitized before being stored or rendered. Network monitoring and intrusion detection systems should be configured to detect suspicious patterns in web traffic that might indicate XSS attack attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and it can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for script injection attacks. Security teams should conduct thorough audits of all installed plugins and themes to identify similar vulnerabilities, particularly those that handle user inputs or configuration data. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be performed to identify and remediate other potential XSS vulnerabilities throughout the WordPress ecosystem, as this type of flaw remains one of the most prevalent and dangerous categories of web application security issues.