CVE-2019-9978VulnerabilityPublished 24 Mar 2019Updated 3 Jun 2025

CVE-2019-9978: n/a

Source CVE Database V5

Exploited in the wild · KEV due 3 May 2022 · public exploit available (Exploit-DB) · 72% EPSS · fixed in 3.5.3 : patch affected systems now.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.1Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

KEV deadline: 3 May 2022 US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else.
EPSS: 72.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 99% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.5.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Mar 2019
Detectable: evidence found.
nuclei template: WordPress Social Warfare <3.5.3 - Cross-Site Scripting
Weaponised: evidence found.
2 Exploit-DB entries, the first 40 days after disclosure
Exploited in the wildExploited: evidence found.
Listed in CISA KEV 2.6 years after disclosure
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

CVE published
on cve.org
2019-03-2414:47Z, t = 0
CVE ID reserved
by mitre
2019-03-24, the same day as disclosure
First Exploit-DB entry (opens in a new tab)
WordPress Plugin Social Warfare < 3.5.3 - Remote Code Execution +1 more
2019-05-03, 40 days after disclosure
Added to CISA KEV (opens in a new tab)
exploitation confirmed
2021-11-03, 2.6 years after disclosure
KEV remediation due
US federal deadline
2022-05-03, 3.1 years after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-9978 (opens in a new tab)

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
n/a n/a	Affected <3.5.3	Fixed in 3.5.3

Description

The social-warfare plugin before 3.5.3 for WordPress has stored XSS via the wp-admin/admin-post.php?swp_debug=load_options swp_url parameter, as exploited in the wild in March 2019. This affects Social Warfare and Social Warfare Pro.

Impact

For European organizations using WordPress websites with the Social Warfare plugin, this vulnerability poses a tangible risk to website integrity and user trust. Exploitation could allow attackers to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of site administrators or users, potentially leading to credential theft, unauthorized actions, or defacement. This can result in data breaches, loss of customer confidence, and regulatory non-compliance under GDPR if personal data is compromised. Additionally, compromised websites can be used as vectors for further attacks or to distribute malware, amplifying reputational and operational damage. Given the widespread use of WordPress in Europe across sectors such as e-commerce, media, and government, the vulnerability could impact a broad range of organizations. The medium severity rating reflects that while the vulnerability does not directly cause denial of service or full system compromise, the confidentiality and integrity of critical website components are at risk, which can have cascading effects on business operations and compliance obligations.

Mitigation

European organizations should immediately verify if their WordPress installations use the Social Warfare plugin and identify the plugin version. If the version is prior to 3.5.3, an upgrade to the latest version should be performed without delay. In cases where immediate patching is not feasible, organizations should implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block attempts to exploit the 'swp_url' parameter in 'admin-post.php'. Additionally, administrators should audit user accounts and logs for suspicious activity indicative of exploitation. Employing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can help mitigate the impact of XSS by restricting script execution sources. Regular security scanning and vulnerability assessments tailored to WordPress environments should be integrated into security operations. Finally, educating site administrators about the risks of clicking on untrusted links and maintaining strict access controls to the WordPress admin interface will reduce the attack surface.

Exploit-DB

Nuclei detection templates

WordPress Social Warfare <3.5.3 - Cross-Site Scriptingmedium (opens in a new tab)

Public tooling indexed from Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB and ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates. Its existence raises the odds of exploitation; it does not confirm attacks.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

Timeline

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Jul 2025, 00:56 UTC

Public exploits and detection2 Exploit-DB entries, a Nuclei detection template

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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