Overview
A reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-12078, has been discovered in the ArtiBot Free Chat Bot for WebSites plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 1.1.7. Due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping related to PostMessage handling, unauthenticated attackers can inject arbitrary web scripts into vulnerable pages. If a user is tricked into clicking a malicious link, the injected script will execute in their browser, potentially leading to account compromise, data theft, or other malicious activities.
Technical Details
The vulnerability resides in how the ArtiBot plugin processes data received via PostMessage. The plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user-supplied input before rendering it in the web page. An attacker can craft a malicious PostMessage containing JavaScript code. If a user visits a page where the ArtiBot plugin is active and is induced (via a malicious link, for example) to trigger the PostMessage, the embedded script will execute in the user’s browser. This is a classic reflected XSS attack vector.
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score for CVE-2025-12078 is 6.1 (Medium). The CVSS vector is likely something like: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N. This reflects the following:
- Attack Vector (AV): Network
- Attack Complexity (AC): Low
- Privileges Required (PR): None
- User Interaction (UI): Required
- Scope (S): Changed
- Confidentiality Impact (C): Low
- Integrity Impact (I): Low
- Availability Impact (A): None
The ‘Medium’ severity reflects the relatively low barrier to entry for exploitation (low attack complexity, no privileges required) balanced against the requirement for user interaction.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can have several negative consequences:
- Account Takeover: An attacker could potentially steal a user’s session cookies and gain unauthorized access to their WordPress account.
- Data Theft: Sensitive information displayed on the vulnerable page could be accessed and exfiltrated by the attacker.
- Malware Distribution: The injected script could redirect the user to a malicious website or attempt to install malware on their system.
- Website Defacement: The attacker could modify the content of the affected page, defacing the website.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The most effective way to mitigate this vulnerability is to update the ArtiBot Free Chat Bot for WebSites plugin to the latest version as soon as a patched version is released. Follow these steps:
- Check for Updates: Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to the “Plugins” section.
- Update the Plugin: If an update is available for the ArtiBot plugin, click the “Update Now” button.
- Verify the Update: After updating, confirm that the plugin version is higher than 1.1.7.
- If no update is available: Consider temporarily disabling the plugin until a patched version is released or implement a web application firewall (WAF) rule to filter out potentially malicious PostMessage payloads.
References
- WordPress Plugin Page: https://wordpress.org/plugins/artibot/
- Wordfence Threat Intelligence: https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/efe48adb-af9f-45dc-b693-ae56dce1bfe2?source=cve
