Overview
A critical security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-13383, has been discovered in the Job Board by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that can execute in the browsers of legitimate users. Specifically, all versions of the plugin up to and including 1.2.1 are affected. This article provides a detailed analysis of the vulnerability, its potential impact, and instructions on how to mitigate the risk.
Technical Details
The vulnerability is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) issue. It arises from the plugin’s practice of directly saving the entire $_GET superglobal array, unsanitized, into the WordPress database. This occurs when a user saves search results within the Job Board plugin. The plugin utilizes update_user_meta() to store this potentially malicious data. Subsequently, when the user accesses their saved search or views their profile, the stored data is output without proper escaping. This allows an attacker, who can trick a user into performing and saving a crafted search, to inject arbitrary web scripts. These scripts execute whenever the targeted user interacts with the saved search or views their profile.
The vulnerability is located in the following files:
- job-board.php#L1680 – This might be related to the search functionality.
- job-board.php#L2354 – Likely the location where
update_user_meta()is called. - job-board.php#L2355 – Likely the location where
update_user_meta()is called.
CVSS Analysis
This vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 6.1, indicating a MEDIUM severity. The CVSS vector string is likely close to something like AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.
- **Attack Vector (AV):** Network (N) – The attack can be performed remotely.
- **Attack Complexity (AC):** Low (L) – The attack is relatively easy to execute.
- **Privileges Required (PR):** None (N) – No privileges are required to initiate the attack.
- **User Interaction (UI):** Required (R) – User interaction is required to trigger the vulnerability (e.g., clicking a link or viewing a page).
- **Scope (S):** Changed (C) – The vulnerability can affect components beyond the initially vulnerable component.
- **Confidentiality Impact (C):** Low (L) – There is limited impact on confidentiality.
- **Integrity Impact (I):** Low (L) – There is limited impact on data integrity.
- **Availability Impact (A):** None (N) – There is no impact on availability.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to:
- Steal user session cookies.
- Redirect users to malicious websites.
- Deface the website.
- Administer malicious code.
- Potentially gain administrative access if an administrator is targeted.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The most effective way to mitigate this vulnerability is to update the Job Board by BestWebSoft plugin to the latest version. Check the WordPress plugin repository for an updated version greater than 1.2.1. If an update is not yet available, consider temporarily disabling the plugin until a patch is released. Alternatively, you could implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to filter out potentially malicious requests targeting the plugin’s search functionality. If you have the capability you can sanitize the `$_GET` superglobal array before saving the search results using `update_user_meta()`. Implement proper output escaping when displaying the saved search results.
