CVE-2022-23988
Published: 28 February 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-23988 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Westguardsolutions Ws Form. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2022-23988 is a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79) affecting the WS Form LITE and Pro WordPress plugins prior to version 1.8.176. The plugins fail to sanitize or escape data submitted through forms, allowing malicious payloads to be stored and later rendered without proper escaping when viewed by administrators or other privileged users. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.1.
An unauthenticated attacker can submit crafted form entries containing XSS payloads over the network. When a privileged user subsequently views the submission in the WordPress dashboard, the payload executes in the context of that user's session, enabling limited confidentiality and integrity impacts with scope change.
The vulnerability was addressed by the vendor in version 1.8.176. The referenced WPScan advisory provides additional technical details on the affected code paths.
EPSS for this CVE has remained flat at a peak of 0.1443 with no material rise after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-28903
Vulnerability details
The WS Form LITE and Pro WordPress plugins before 1.8.176 do not sanitise and escape submitted form data, allowing unauthenticated attacker to submit XSS payloads which will get executed when a privileged user will view the related submission
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.
Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.
Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.