CVE-2025-13682 in Trail Manager Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/05/2025
The Trail Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via admin settings in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.0 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level permissions and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This only affects multi-site installations and installations where unfiltered_html has been disabled.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/06/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-13682 affects the Trail Manager plugin for WordPress, representing a critical stored cross-site scripting flaw that compromises the security of affected installations. This vulnerability exists within the plugin's admin settings functionality and impacts all versions up to and including 1.0.0, making it a significant concern for WordPress administrators who rely on this plugin for trail management operations. The flaw stems from inadequate input sanitization measures and insufficient output escaping mechanisms that fail to properly validate and sanitize user-supplied data before it is processed and stored within the system.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an authenticated attacker with administrator-level permissions or higher, which significantly limits the attack surface but does not eliminate the risk entirely. Attackers can leverage this privilege to inject malicious scripts into the plugin's admin settings, which then get stored in the database and executed whenever legitimate users access pages containing the injected content. This stored nature of the XSS vulnerability means that the malicious code persists and executes automatically without requiring additional user interaction beyond visiting affected pages. The vulnerability specifically targets multi-site WordPress installations and configurations where the unfiltered_html capability has been disabled, creating a unique attack vector that exploits the interaction between these specific WordPress security configurations and the plugin's insufficient sanitization practices.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it provides attackers with the capability to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, data exfiltration, and privilege escalation within the compromised WordPress environment. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that successful exploitation can affect multiple users over time, as the injected scripts execute whenever any user accesses the affected pages. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in multi-site environments where administrators may have varying levels of access and different security practices. The attack vector is further constrained by the requirement for administrator-level access, which suggests that organizations with proper security practices and role-based access controls may be less vulnerable, though this protection is not absolute given the potential for privilege escalation through other means.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest version of the Trail Manager plugin once available, which will likely contain proper input sanitization and output escaping measures. System administrators should also review their WordPress security configurations, particularly focusing on the unfiltered_html capability and multi-site settings, to ensure that unnecessary privileges are not granted to users. The implementation of additional security layers such as web application firewalls and content security policies can provide defense-in-depth measures to mitigate potential exploitation attempts. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative activities and script injection attempts within the WordPress environment, while regular security audits should verify that input validation mechanisms are properly implemented across all plugin and theme components. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege and proper input validation as outlined in various cybersecurity frameworks including the ATT&CK framework's initial access and privilege escalation techniques.