WP Posts Carousel Stored Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability

A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability has been identified in the WP Posts Carousel plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions through 1.3.7. The issue arises from inadequate input sanitization and output escaping, allowing authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher to inject arbitrary scripts via the 'auto_play_timeout' parameter. These scripts are executed when a user accesses the affected page.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability allows for stored cross-site scripting, where injected scripts are executed in the context of the user viewing the page.

Reproduction

To reproduce this vulnerability, an authenticated user with Contributor-level access or higher can inject a script by manipulating the 'auto_play_timeout' parameter. This can be done through the plugin's settings or by using a shortcode that includes the vulnerable parameter. Once the script is injected, it will be executed whenever a user visits the page where the injection occurred.

Remediation

Users are advised to update the WP Posts Carousel plugin to version 1.3.8 or later, where this vulnerability has been patched.