CVE-2025-23623 in Contact Form 7 Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/16/2025
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Mahesh Bisen Contact Form 7 – CCAvenue Add-on allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Contact Form 7 – CCAvenue Add-on: from n/a through 1.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/10/2025
The CVE-2025-23623 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the Contact Form 7 – CCAvenue Add-on plugin for WordPress, specifically impacting versions from an unspecified starting point through version 1.0. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is one of the most prevalent and dangerous web application security flaws. The issue manifests as a reflected XSS vulnerability, meaning that malicious input is immediately reflected back to users without proper sanitization or encoding, creating a direct pathway for attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of the victim's browser.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs during the web page generation process when user input from the CCAvenue payment form is improperly handled. When a user submits data through the contact form that interfaces with the CCAvenue payment gateway, the plugin fails to adequately sanitize or escape the input before rendering it back to the user's browser. This allows an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code through parameters or form fields that are then reflected back to the user, executing in their browser context. The reflected nature of this XSS means that the malicious payload must be delivered through a crafted URL or form submission, making it particularly dangerous in scenarios where users might be tricked into clicking malicious links or submitting compromised forms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, redirection to malicious sites, and data exfiltration from authenticated users. An attacker could craft a malicious URL containing XSS payloads that, when clicked by an authenticated administrator or user with elevated privileges, could lead to complete compromise of the affected WordPress site. The vulnerability affects the entire scope of users who interact with the contact form functionality, potentially exposing sensitive customer data, payment information, and administrative access. This type of vulnerability can be particularly devastating in e-commerce environments where the CCAvenue integration handles payment processing, as it could enable attackers to capture payment credentials or redirect transactions.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2025-23623 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the XSS vulnerability, as this represents the most effective defense against the known exploit. Organizations should implement proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, ensuring that all user-supplied data is sanitized before being rendered back to the browser. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide an additional layer of protection by restricting the sources from which scripts can be executed, helping to prevent the execution of malicious payloads even if the primary vulnerability is not fully patched. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect suspicious patterns in form submissions and URL parameters that might indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Additionally, the principle of least privilege should be enforced, ensuring that users with access to the contact form functionality have minimal necessary permissions and that administrative access is protected through multi-factor authentication. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 for 'Run-time Process Injection' and T1059.007 for 'Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript' as attackers could leverage the reflected XSS to inject JavaScript code that executes in user browsers and potentially escalates to more sophisticated attacks. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and regular security audits to identify similar vulnerabilities in other plugins or custom code components within their WordPress environments.