Crossword Compiler Puzzles <= 14.5 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 14.6
- Affected Plugin
- Crossword Compiler Puzzles
- Affected Version
<= 14.5- CVSS
- 6.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2025-46493
At a glance
CVE-2025-46493 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Crossword Compiler Puzzles WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 14.5. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 14.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2025, reported by ch4r0n.
Vulnerability Overview
The Crossword Compiler Puzzles plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 14.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in Crossword Compiler Puzzles <= 14.5 takes an account at Subscriber level or above. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Crossword Compiler Puzzles the fix is 14.6: builds <= 14.5 are affected, anything from 14.6 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 14.6, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Subscriber access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Crossword Compiler Puzzles 14.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Crossword Compiler Puzzles
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