CVE-2025-2803
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 So-Called Air Quotes plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 0.1. This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes.
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 So-Called Air Quotes WordPress plugin (versions up to 0.1) fails to validate user-supplied input before passing it to WordPress's do_shortcode() function, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes. This can lead to various attacks depending on what shortcodes are available on the site.
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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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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Locate the plugin installationCheck your WordPress site's wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'so-called-air-quotes' or similar variant containing 'air-quotes' or 'airquotes'Affected if The plugin directory exists on the server
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Determine the installed versionOpen the main PHP file in the plugin directory (usually the one matching the folder name) and look for the version comment in the plugin headerAffected if The version header shows 0.1 or lower, or no version header exists (indicating unversioned early release)
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Identify the vulnerable code pathSearch the plugin PHP files for calls to do_shortcode() and trace whether user-supplied input ($_GET, $_POST, or request parameters) flows directly into this function without sanitizationAffected if User input from request parameters is passed to do_shortcode() without validation
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Assess shortcode availabilityReview what shortcodes are registered on the WordPress site by checking the theme and active plugins for add_shortcode() calls, as the exploit effectiveness depends on available shortcode handlersAffected if Any shortcodes are registered that could be abused (common examples include shortcodes that query databases, include files, or output sensitive content)
You are affected if the plugin is installed with version 0.1 or lower AND the plugin passes unsanitized user input to do_shortcode(), regardless of what shortcodes are available on the site.
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 plugin to a patched version once available. If no update exists, disable the plugin entirely or implement web application firewall rules to block requests targeting the vulnerable endpoint.
- 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.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-2803 — 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-2025-2803 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data