CVE-2025-31444

CVE-2025-31444 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the youtag ShowTime Slideshow WordPress plugin (showtime-slideshow) that enables Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). The flaw affects all versions of the plugin up to and including 1.6, as documented in the CVE published on 2025-03-28. It is associated with CWE-352 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L), indicating network accessibility, low attack complexity, no required privileges, user interaction, changed scope, and low impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability without authentication by luring a targeted user—typically a site administrator with appropriate privileges—into interacting with a malicious webpage. This webpage would forge a request to the vulnerable plugin endpoint, injecting a malicious XSS payload that is stored persistently, such as within slideshow content. Once stored, the XSS can execute in the context of other users viewing the affected slideshow, potentially leading to session hijacking, data theft, or further site compromise, though limited by the low impact ratings.

Mitigation guidance is available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/showtime-slideshow/vulnerability/wordpress-showtime-slideshow-plugin-1-6-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf-to-stored-xss-vulnerability?_s_id=cve, which details the vulnerability in the context of the WordPress plugin ecosystem. Security practitioners should verify plugin updates beyond version 1.6 and implement general CSRF protections, such as token validation, on affected sites.