Countdown WidgetWordPress extension · Wpassist
CVE-2022-45847
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 · uneditedCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WPAssist.Me WordPress Countdown Widget allows Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).This issue affects WordPress Countdown Widget: from n/a through 3.1.9.1.
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 · moderate confidenceThe WordPress Countdown Widget plugin lacks Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection on its administrative forms and AJAX endpoints. This allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into submitting malicious requests. Because the plugin also fails to properly sanitize or escape user input, the CSRF attack can inject arbitrary JavaScript (XSS) into the countdown widget configuration, which then executes in the browsers of users viewing the affected pages.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
Countdown WidgetWordPress extension
<= 3.1.9.1CVSS 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
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Wpassist Countdown Widget' or 'Countdown Widget'. The version number is displayed under the plugin name. Alternatively, check the plugin's main PHP file header for the Version comment.Affected if The installed version is 3.1.9.1 or lower.
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Verify plugin is activeConfirm the Countdown Widget plugin is currently activated in the WordPress plugins list. An inactive plugin cannot be exploited, though the vulnerability still exists in the installed files.Affected if The plugin shows as 'Active' in the WordPress admin plugin list.
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Inspect plugin database optionsQuery the wp_options table (or equivalent) for option_names containing 'countdown' or the plugin's text domain. Look for serialized option values that may contain script tags, iframe tags, or javascript: URIs.Affected if Any option value contains unescaped HTML such as <script>, <img onerror>, or javascript: protocols.
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Review widget configuration for XSS payloadsNavigate to the plugin's admin settings page where countdown timers are configured. Check each text field (title, description, countdown message) for suspicious characters or encoded content that may indicate prior exploitation.Affected if The configuration fields contain unexpected HTML entities, encoded scripts, or obvious XSS payloads.
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Check for unauthorized admin actionsReview WordPress activity logs, audit logs, or the wp_posts table for recent changes to the plugin's custom post type or options. Look for unexpected timestamps or unfamiliar admin users modifying countdown settings.Affected if Recent configuration changes exist that were not made by known administrators.
A user is affected if the Wpassist Countdown Widget plugin is installed at version 3.1.9.1 or below and is currently active, with any configuration containing unsanitized HTML or evidence of unauthorized changes.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataUpdate to the latest version of the WPAssist.Me WordPress Countdown Widget if a patch is available; otherwise, disable the plugin until a secure version is released. As a compensating control, ensure admin sessions are protected and monitor for unexpected plugin configuration changes.
Fix this in Countdown Widget
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-45847 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-45847 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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