CVE-2018-20963 : Security Advisory and Response

WordPress contact-form-to-email plugin versions prior to 1.2.66 contain a cross-site scripting vulnerability.

Understanding CVE-2018-20963

This CVE identifies a security issue in the contact-form-to-email plugin for WordPress.

What is CVE-2018-20963?

The contact-form-to-email plugin for WordPress versions before 1.2.66 has a cross-site scripting vulnerability, allowing attackers to execute malicious scripts on the victim's browser.

The Impact of CVE-2018-20963

This vulnerability can be exploited by attackers to perform various malicious activities, such as stealing sensitive information, session hijacking, or defacing websites.

Technical Details of CVE-2018-20963

The technical aspects of this CVE are as follows:

Vulnerability Description

The contact-form-to-email plugin before version 1.2.66 for WordPress is susceptible to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Affected Systems and Versions

Product: Not applicable
Vendor: Not applicable
Versions affected: All versions prior to 1.2.66

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious scripts into the contact form fields, which are then executed when a user interacts with the vulnerable form.

Mitigation and Prevention

Protect your systems from CVE-2018-20963 with the following measures:

Immediate Steps to Take

Update the contact-form-to-email plugin to version 1.2.66 or newer.
Consider disabling the plugin if immediate updating is not possible.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update all plugins and themes in your WordPress installation.
Implement input validation and output encoding to prevent XSS vulnerabilities.

Patching and Updates

Ensure that your WordPress plugins are regularly updated to the latest versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.