Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox ThemeWordPress extension · Averta
CVE-2024-3517
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 Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the Accordion Widget in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor access and higher, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
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 Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user input in the Accordion Widget, allowing authenticated users with contributor-level access or higher to inject malicious JavaScript that persists and executes when other users view 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
Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox ThemeWordPress extension
< 2.15.6CVSS 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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Verify the Averta Shortcodes plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins and look for 'Shortcodes and Extra Features for Phlox Theme' or 'Averta Shortcodes' in the installed plugins listAffected if Plugin is installed and active
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Determine the installed plugin versionClick 'View Details' on the plugin in the WordPress plugins list, or check the plugin header in the main PHP file (typically in wp-content/plugins/auxin-shortcodes or similar)Affected if Version number is lower than 2.15.6
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Identify if the Accordion Widget is in useCheck your WordPress pages, posts, or widget areas for the 'Phlox' or 'Averta' Accordion widget, or search your database for posts containing the accordion shortcode or widgetAffected if Accordion widget content exists in your site pages or widget areas
If the plugin is installed, version is below 2.15.6, and the Accordion widget is being used, your environment is affected by this stored XSS vulnerability.
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.
dbcve · scoped2.15.6
Update the plugin to version 2.15.6 or later which contains proper input sanitization and output escaping. If immediate updating is not possible, restrict contributor-level user permissions or deploy a WAF to mitigate XSS exploitation.
Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox Theme version 2.15.6
- Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Locate 'Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox Theme' in the plugin list
- Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually update to version 2.15.6
- Verify the plugin version shows 2.15.6 or higher after updating
- Review any pages or posts using the Accordion Widget to ensure no malicious scripts were injected prior to the update
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox Theme
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-3517 — 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-2024-3517 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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- 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
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