CVE-2024-11905 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability identified in the Animated Counters plugin for WordPress, developed by freeben. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including version 2.0. The root cause is insufficient sanitization and escaping of user-supplied input in the 'animatedcounte' shortcode attributes, which allows authenticated users with contributor-level permissions or higher to inject arbitrary JavaScript code into pages. When other users access these pages, the injected scripts execute in their browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, privilege escalation, or defacement. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79, indicating improper neutralization of input during web page generation. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 6.4, reflecting a medium severity with network attack vector, low attack complexity, requiring privileges (PR:L), no user interaction, and a scope change. Although no public exploits are reported yet, the vulnerability's presence in a popular WordPress plugin makes it a significant risk, especially for websites allowing contributor-level user roles. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality and integrity of the affected systems but does not impact availability. The lack of patch links suggests that a fix may not yet be publicly available, emphasizing the need for immediate mitigation steps.

The primary impact of CVE-2024-11905 is the compromise of confidentiality and integrity on WordPress sites using the vulnerable Animated Counters plugin. Attackers with contributor-level access can inject malicious scripts that execute in the browsers of site visitors or administrators, potentially leading to session hijacking, theft of sensitive information, unauthorized actions on behalf of users, or site defacement. This can erode user trust, damage brand reputation, and lead to regulatory compliance issues if sensitive data is exposed. Since the vulnerability requires authenticated access, it limits exploitation to insiders or compromised accounts but remains a serious threat in environments with multiple contributors or weak access controls. The scope change in CVSS indicates that the vulnerability can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component, potentially impacting the entire WordPress site. Organizations worldwide relying on WordPress with this plugin are at risk, particularly those with collaborative content creation workflows.

To mitigate CVE-2024-11905, organizations should: 1) Immediately restrict contributor-level user permissions to trusted individuals only and review existing user roles for unnecessary privileges. 2) Disable or remove the Animated Counters plugin until a patched version is released. 3) Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious script injection attempts targeting the 'animatedcounte' shortcode parameters. 4) Conduct thorough input validation and output encoding on all user-generated content, especially shortcodes, as a best practice. 5) Monitor logs and site content for unexpected script insertions or changes. 6) Educate content contributors about the risks of injecting untrusted content and enforce strict content submission policies. 7) Stay updated with vendor advisories for official patches and apply them promptly once available. 8) Consider deploying Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts in browsers.