dbcve.org
AntispamWordPress extension · Cleantalk

CVE-2022-28222

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.173 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The CleanTalk AntiSpam plugin <= 5.173 for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via the $_REQUEST['page'] parameter in`/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/FindSpam/ListTable/Users.php`

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-79

Untrusted input is placed into a web page without being neutralised, so an attacker's markup or script executes in another user's browser. That can hijack sessions, capture keystrokes, or silently perform actions as the victim. Fixing it properly means context-aware output encoding everywhere data meets HTML, backed by a content-security policy as a second line of defence.

General guidance for the cross-site scripting (xss) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AntispamWordPress extension
Affected:<= 5.173

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 5.173
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest available version of CleanTalk AntiSpam plugin (> 5.173)

  1. 1. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard and access the Plugins section.
  2. 2. Locate the CleanTalk AntiSpam plugin in the installed plugins list.
  3. 3. Check the current installed version of the plugin to confirm it is <= 5.173.
  4. 4. If an update is available, select the plugin and choose 'Update now' to install the latest version.
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the latest version of the CleanTalk AntiSpam plugin from the official WordPress Plugin Repository at wordpress.org/plugins/cleantalk-spam-protect/.
  6. 6. Deactivate and delete the existing plugin, then upload and activate the new version.
  7. 7. Verify the fix by checking that the 'page' parameter in /lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/FindSpam/ListTable/Users.php is now properly sanitized or escaped before output.
  8. 8. Test the plugin functionality to ensure no regressions were introduced by the update.
Caveat Review plugin changelog for any breaking changes between your current version and the latest release; test in staging environment before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can identify the exact fixed release, upgrade, and verify it in staging — typical engagement from $900. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-28222 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data