The Community Events plugin for WordPress, developed by jackdewey, suffers from a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-11995. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-79, which involves improper neutralization of input during web page generation. Specifically, the event details parameter in the plugin is not adequately sanitized or escaped before being rendered on web pages. As a result, attackers can inject arbitrary JavaScript code that is stored persistently within the plugin's data store. When any user accesses the affected event page, the malicious script executes in their browser context. This can lead to a range of attacks including session hijacking, theft of cookies or credentials, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely by unauthenticated attackers without requiring user interaction, increasing its risk profile. The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.2 reflects a high severity, with attack vector being network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), and a scope change (S:C) indicating that the vulnerability affects resources beyond the vulnerable component. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are rated low but significant, while availability is unaffected. No patches were available at the time of disclosure, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild, though the potential for exploitation remains high given the plugin's usage in WordPress environments. The vulnerability was reserved on 2025-10-20 and published on 2025-11-01. The plugin is widely used for managing community events on WordPress sites, making this a notable risk for websites relying on this functionality.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality and integrity of web applications using the Community Events plugin. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to user sessions, theft of sensitive information such as authentication tokens, and potential defacement or manipulation of website content. This can damage organizational reputation, lead to regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR breaches if personal data is exposed), and disrupt user trust. Public-facing websites, especially those handling community engagement or event management, are prime targets. The ease of exploitation without authentication or user interaction increases the likelihood of automated attacks and widespread compromise. Additionally, the scope change in the vulnerability means that the impact could extend beyond the plugin itself, potentially affecting other components or user data within the WordPress environment. Organizations in sectors such as education, local government, non-profits, and event management in Europe are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on community event platforms. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the risk of future exploitation remains high.

1. Monitor the official jackdewey plugin repository and WordPress security advisories for the release of a security patch addressing CVE-2025-11995 and apply it immediately upon availability. 2. Until a patch is released, implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules specifically designed to detect and block XSS payloads targeting the event details parameter. 3. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts on affected web pages, limiting the impact of any injected scripts. 4. Conduct manual or automated code reviews and input validation enhancements on the event details input fields to sanitize and escape inputs at multiple layers, including server-side and client-side. 5. Regularly audit and monitor web server logs and application behavior for unusual requests or script injections related to the Community Events plugin. 6. Educate site administrators and content creators about the risks of injecting untrusted content and encourage minimal use of HTML or scripts in event descriptions. 7. Consider temporarily disabling or replacing the Community Events plugin with alternative event management solutions that have verified security postures until the vulnerability is resolved. 8. Maintain up-to-date backups of website data to enable rapid recovery in case of successful exploitation.