GroundhoggWordPress extension
CVE-2023-2735
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 · uneditedThe Groundhogg plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'gh_form' shortcode in versions up to, and including, 2.7.9.8 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with contributor-level and above permissions to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. Please note this only works with legacy contact forms.
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 · high confidenceThe Groundhogg WordPress plugin versions up to 2.7.9.8 contain a stored XSS vulnerability in the 'gh_form' shortcode. Authenticated users with contributor-level or higher permissions can inject arbitrary JavaScript via unsanitized user-supplied attributes in the shortcode, which executes when other users access the affected pages. The vulnerability only affects legacy contact forms.
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
GroundhoggWordPress extension
<= 2.7.9.8CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Groundhogg plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and find Groundhogg. The version number is displayed below the plugin name.Affected if Version is 2.7.9.8 or lower
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Identify use of gh_form shortcodeSearch your WordPress posts, pages, and custom post types for the shortcode [gh_form] using the WordPress editor or by searching the wp_posts database table.Affected if The [gh_form] shortcode is present in any published content
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Confirm legacy form usageInspect the shortcode attributes in the content where [gh_form] appears. Legacy forms typically have attributes like fields, button_text, or other form customization options directly in the shortcode.Affected if The shortcode contains custom attributes that could contain unsanitized user input
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Check user role permissionsReview WordPress user roles at Users > All Users. Identify any users with Contributor, Author, Editor, or Administrator roles who have access to create or edit content containing shortcodes.Affected if Any user with contributor-level or higher permissions can edit content containing the shortcode
You are affected if the Groundhogg plugin version is 2.7.9.8 or lower AND the legacy [gh_form] shortcode is in use on your site with contributors or higher having content editing access.
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 the Groundhogg plugin to version 2.7.9.9 or later to obtain the patched code that properly sanitizes shortcode attributes and escapes output.
Fix this in Groundhogg
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-2735 — 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-2023-2735 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