CVE-2025-23698
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 ivanra10 WP Custom Google Search wp-custom-google-search allows Stored XSS.This issue affects WP Custom Google Search: from n/a through <= 1.0.
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 CSRF vulnerability in the WP Custom Google Search plugin allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into submitting malicious requests that store XSS payloads in the plugin's settings. Since the XSS is stored, it will execute whenever users access pages containing the affected plugin content.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
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 WP Custom Google Search plugin is installedGo to WordPress Admin > Plugins and look for 'WP Custom Google Search' in the installed plugins list. Note whether it is activated.Affected if The plugin is installed and activated in the WordPress environment
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Identify the installed plugin versionClick on the plugin name in the plugins list to view its details, or inspect the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/wp-custom-google-search/*.php to read the Version field.Affected if The installed version matches or falls within any affected version ranges (compare to official WordPress plugin repository release notes)
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Inspect plugin settings for suspicious stored contentNavigate to the plugin settings page (usually under Settings > WP Custom Google Search or a dedicated menu item). Examine all text fields, especially search box labels, placeholder text, and URL configuration fields. Look for any unexpected JavaScript code, script tags, or HTML attributes like onload, onerror, or onclick.Affected if The plugin settings contain any unsanitized user-supplied values that include JavaScript code or HTML event handlers
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Review page source for unsanitized outputVisit a page where the WP Custom Google Search widget or shortcode is rendered. Right-click and view page source. Search for the plugin settings values and verify they are properly escaped (e.g., look for <script> or " instead of raw <script> or ").Affected if Raw, unescaped HTML or JavaScript from plugin settings appears in the page source
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Check for unauthorized admin actionsReview server access logs and WordPress audit logs for any POST requests to admin-ajax.php or plugin settings pages that originated from unexpected IP addresses or during times when admin users were not active.Affected if There are administrative actions on the plugin settings from unexpected sources indicating potential CSRF exploitation
A user is affected if the WP Custom Google Search plugin is installed and its settings contain unsanitized XSS payloads or if the plugin lacks nonce protection allowing CSRF-triggered stored XSS.
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 dataImplement WordPress nonces for all admin actions and apply proper input sanitization and output escaping on all user-supplied values before storing and displaying them.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-23698 — 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-2025-23698 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