CVE-2025-4577 in Custom Facebook Feed Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/10/2025
The Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the data-color attribute in all versions up to, and including, 4.3.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/10/2025
The Smash Balloon Social Post Feed plugin for WordPress represents a widely used tool for displaying social media content on wordpress websites through embedded feeds from various social platforms. This particular vulnerability affects versions up to and including 4.3.1, creating a significant security risk for wordpress installations that rely on this plugin for social media integration. The flaw exists within the plugin's handling of the data-color attribute parameter which is used to customize the visual appearance of social feed elements.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's codebase. When administrators or contributors with appropriate privileges create or modify social feed configurations, they can inject malicious javascript code through the data-color attribute field without proper validation. This occurs because the plugin fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before storing it in the database, and subsequently fails to escape output when rendering the feed elements on web pages.
The operational impact of this stored cross-site scripting vulnerability is particularly concerning as it requires only Contributor-level access or higher to exploit successfully. This means that users with relatively low privilege levels within wordpress can potentially compromise the security of an entire website by injecting malicious scripts into feed configurations. Once injected, these scripts execute every time any user accesses a page containing the compromised feed, making the attack vector highly persistent and difficult to detect. The vulnerability creates a condition where legitimate users may unknowingly execute malicious code that could steal session cookies, redirect traffic, or perform other harmful actions.
The security implications extend beyond simple script execution as this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. From an att&ck framework perspective, this represents a technique for initial access and persistence through web application exploitation. The vulnerability enables attackers to establish a foothold that could serve as a launching point for more sophisticated attacks including privilege escalation or data exfiltration. Organizations using affected versions should immediately implement mitigations including plugin updates, input validation hardening, and monitoring for suspicious feed configurations.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate upgrade to the latest available version of the plugin where the vulnerability has been patched. Additionally administrators should implement proper access controls limiting contributor privileges to only necessary functions, establish input validation rules for all user-supplied parameters, and conduct regular security audits of installed plugins. Network monitoring solutions should be configured to detect unusual script execution patterns, while web application firewalls can provide additional protection layers. Regular security assessments of wordpress installations should include thorough examination of plugin configurations to identify potential injection points and ensure proper sanitization of all user inputs.