Overview
A medium-severity security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-12368, has been discovered in the Sermon Manager plugin for WordPress. This vulnerability exposes websites using the plugin to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. All versions of the plugin up to and including 2.30.0 are affected. This article provides an overview of the vulnerability, technical details, potential impact, and steps to mitigate the risk.
Technical Details
The vulnerability lies within the sermon-views shortcode. Insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes within this shortcode allow authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages or posts. Specifically, the vulnerability exists in the includes/vendor/entry-views.php file around line 114, where user-provided data is not properly sanitized before being displayed. When a user accesses a page containing the injected script, the malicious code will execute in their browser, potentially allowing the attacker to steal sensitive information, redirect users to malicious websites, or perform actions on their behalf.
CVSS Analysis
The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 6.4, indicating a MEDIUM severity. This score reflects the potential impact and exploitability of the vulnerability.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to a range of malicious activities, including:
- Account Takeover: Attackers could steal administrator credentials by injecting JavaScript that captures keystrokes or redirects users to phishing pages.
- Malicious Redirects: Users could be redirected to malicious websites without their knowledge.
- Defacement: Attackers could modify the content of the website.
- Data Theft: Sensitive information, such as user cookies or session tokens, could be stolen.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The most effective way to mitigate this vulnerability is to update the Sermon Manager plugin to the latest version as soon as it becomes available. Check the WordPress plugin repository for an updated version. Until an update is available, consider the following temporary workarounds (though these are not ideal and should be considered short-term solutions):
- Restrict User Roles: Limit the number of users with Contributor-level access or higher.
- Disable the `sermon-views` shortcode: If possible, disable the `sermon-views` shortcode until a patch is released. This may impact the functionality of the plugin.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): Implement a WAF with rules to block XSS attacks. Configure the WAF to inspect and sanitize input to prevent malicious scripts from being injected.
