Wp Remote Site SearchWordPress extension · Brainstormforce
CVE-2023-51397
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 · uneditedImproper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Brainstorm Force WP Remote Site Search allows Stored XSS.This issue affects WP Remote Site Search: from n/a through 1.0.4.
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 confidenceA stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Brainstorm Force WP Remote Site Search WordPress plugin (versions up to 1.0.4). The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation, allowing authenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript scripts that execute in the browsers of users who view the affected content.
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
Wp Remote Site SearchWordPress extension
<= 1.0.4CVSS 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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Confirm plugin installationNavigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins. Look for 'WP Remote Site Search' by Brainstorm Force in the list.Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list and is active.
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Check installed versionIn the plugins list, locate the 'WP Remote Site Search' plugin and note the version number displayed below the plugin name.Affected if The installed version is 1.0.4 or lower (any version up to and including 1.0.4).
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Identify user input pointsAccess the plugin settings page (usually under Settings or the plugin's dedicated admin menu). Locate any fields that accept user-supplied input such as search configuration, remote site URLs, or custom field mappings.Affected if The plugin accepts user input in any configuration field without visible sanitization indicators.
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Verify stored content executionIf you can access the frontend search functionality, submit a test search query containing harmless HTML markup (such as <strong>test</strong> or <script>alert(1)</script>). View the search results page source to see if the markup renders as HTML rather than being escaped.Affected if User-supplied input is rendered as executable HTML in the frontend, indicating improper output encoding.
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Check for authenticated accessReview whether low-privileged users (such as subscribers or contributors) can access the plugin configuration or submission features.Affected if Authenticated users with limited privileges can modify plugin settings or submit content that gets stored and displayed to others.
You are affected if the WP Remote Site Search plugin version is 1.0.4 or lower AND the plugin is active AND it accepts user-supplied input that is rendered without proper sanitization in web pages.
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 dataUpgrade WP Remote Site Search to the latest version and apply all security patches. Implement proper input sanitization and output encoding for all user-supplied data before rendering in HTML contexts.
Fix this in Wp Remote Site Search
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-51397 — 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-2023-51397 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