Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-2242

XSS in Rocklobster Contact Form 7 ≤ 5.9.2

XSS
Published
13 March 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.013 68th percentile
Risk Priority 71 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-2242 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Rocklobster Contact Form 7. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); ranked in the top 32% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to reflected cross-site scripting via the active-tab parameter in all versions up to and including 5.9. The issue stems from insufficient input sanitization and output escaping, as classified under CWE-79, and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.1 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, no required privileges, and required user interaction with changed scope.

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the flaw by crafting malicious links that inject arbitrary web scripts; successful execution occurs if a targeted user clicks the link, enabling limited impacts to confidentiality and integrity within the affected site's context.

Advisories reference a plugin changeset that addresses the parameter handling in edit-contact-form.php, indicating that updating to a patched version of Contact Form 7 mitigates the exposure, with additional details available through Wordfence threat intelligence reporting.

The EPSS score stands at 0.6848 with an identical peak value and no documented real-world exploitation activity.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the ‘active-tab’ parameter in all versions up to, and including, 5.9 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers…

more

to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that execute if they can successfully trick a user into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

CWE(s)
CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-5005Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-0585Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-40680Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-47547Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-47680Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-1159Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-30871Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-41662Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-49181Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin
CVE-2023-33925Same product class: WordPress / CMS plugin

Affected Assets

rocklobster
contact form 7
≤ 5.9.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect input neutralization through targeted web-application tests.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly enforces neutralization of untrusted data before it reaches web output generation.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering good match

Output filtering can catch or sanitize unneutralized script content before it is served to users.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

A.5.7 Threat intelligence partial match
prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

A.8.7 Protection against malware none match
none

Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.

References