CVE-2025-23934 in Giveaways and Contests Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/16/2025
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in PromoSimple Giveaways and Contests by PromoSimple allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Giveaways and Contests by PromoSimple: from n/a through 1.24.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/10/2025
This vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw in the PromoSimple Giveaways and Contests plugin, specifically categorized under CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation. The weakness enables attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users, creating a persistent security risk that can compromise user sessions and data integrity. The vulnerability manifests as a stored XSS attack vector, meaning malicious code persists in the application's database and executes whenever affected pages are loaded, rather than requiring immediate user interaction with a crafted link.
The technical implementation of this flaw occurs during the web page generation process where user input containing HTML or JavaScript code is not properly sanitized or encoded before being rendered in web responses. This allows malicious actors to submit content through the plugin's interface that contains embedded scripts, which then get stored in the database and executed in the context of other users' browsers. The affected versions span from the initial release through 1.24, indicating this vulnerability has been present for an extended period and likely affects a significant user base of WordPress installations using this plugin.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable sophisticated attacks such as session hijacking, credential theft, and redirection to malicious sites. Attackers can exploit this weakness to steal administrator credentials, modify contest configurations, or inject malicious content that appears legitimate to end users. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that once exploited, the malicious payloads can affect multiple users over time without requiring repeated exploitation attempts. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 for Account Access Removal and T1071.001 for Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols, as attackers can manipulate the application's web interface to achieve unauthorized access and data exfiltration.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of the affected plugin to version 1.25 or later, which contains the necessary input sanitization fixes. Administrators should also implement Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution and employ input validation at multiple layers including client-side, server-side, and database storage. Regular security audits of plugin code should be conducted to identify similar input handling vulnerabilities, and user input should be properly encoded using appropriate escaping functions before rendering in HTML contexts. Additionally, implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious input patterns can provide defense-in-depth protection against exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output encoding in web applications, particularly in content management systems where user-generated content is prevalent.