CVE-2025-0368 in Banner Garden Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 02/04/2025
The Banner Garden Plugin for WordPress plugin through 0.1.3 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 or unauthenticated users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/05/2025
The CVE-2025-0368 vulnerability affects the Banner Garden Plugin for WordPress version 0.1.3 and earlier, representing a critical reflected cross-site scripting flaw that poses significant security risks to WordPress installations. This vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's codebase, creating an attack vector that can be exploited by malicious actors to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by users. The flaw specifically occurs when the plugin processes user-supplied parameters without proper validation or sanitization, allowing attackers to craft malicious payloads that execute in the context of the victim's browser.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the plugin failing to properly escape output data that originates from user input, creating a reflected XSS condition where malicious scripts are reflected back to users through web pages. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which is a fundamental weakness in web application security that allows attackers to inject malicious code into web pages viewed by other users. The vulnerability's impact is particularly concerning because it can be exploited against high-privilege users such as administrators, potentially leading to complete account compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive system functions.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a substantial risk to WordPress sites using the affected plugin, as it can be leveraged by attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and unauthorized administrative actions. The reflected nature of the vulnerability means that attackers need to entice victims to click on malicious links containing crafted payloads, making it particularly dangerous in phishing campaigns or when users are tricked into visiting compromised pages. The vulnerability's exploitation potential increases significantly when targeting administrative users, as successful attacks could lead to complete system compromise and unauthorized modifications to the WordPress installation.
The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1566 - Phishing and T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application, highlighting the social engineering and application exploitation aspects of the threat. Security practitioners should be aware that this vulnerability represents a common pattern in web application security flaws where input validation is insufficient or completely absent, making it a prime target for automated scanning tools and manual exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple script execution, as it can serve as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks including privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and persistent backdoor establishment within the compromised WordPress environment.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of the Banner Garden Plugin to the latest version where the XSS vulnerability has been addressed through proper input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation across all user-supplied data, employ Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution, and conduct regular security audits of WordPress plugins to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities. Additionally, security monitoring should be enhanced to detect suspicious user behavior patterns and unusual access attempts that may indicate exploitation attempts against this vulnerability. The implementation of web application firewalls and regular security assessments can provide additional layers of protection against exploitation attempts targeting this specific XSS flaw.