CVE-2025-47518 is a medium-severity vulnerability classified under CWE-79, which corresponds to Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, commonly known as Cross-site Scripting (XSS). This vulnerability affects the Scott Paterson Contact Form 7 – PayPal & Stripe Add-on, specifically versions up to and including 2.3.4. The flaw allows an attacker to inject malicious scripts that are stored persistently within the vulnerable plugin's data handling processes. When a legitimate user or administrator accesses the affected web page or form, the malicious script executes in their browser context. This can lead to unauthorized actions such as session hijacking, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.9 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:H), user interaction (UI:R), scope changed (S:C), and impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability at a low level (C:L/I:L/A:L). Notably, exploitation requires an authenticated user with high privileges and user interaction, which limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk. The vulnerability is significant because Contact Form 7 is a widely used WordPress plugin for managing contact forms, and the PayPal & Stripe add-on integrates payment processing, making it a valuable target for attackers aiming to compromise e-commerce or donation platforms. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet, indicating that mitigation may require vendor updates or manual intervention.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial, especially for those relying on WordPress sites with Contact Form 7 and the PayPal & Stripe add-on for customer interactions and payment processing. Exploitation could lead to theft of session tokens, enabling attackers to impersonate administrators or users, potentially leading to unauthorized transactions or data leakage. The integrity of payment-related data could be compromised, affecting trust and compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Availability impacts, while low, could disrupt business operations if attackers deface or disable forms. Given the requirement for authenticated high-privilege users and user interaction, insider threats or social engineering attacks could facilitate exploitation. European organizations with e-commerce, non-profits, or service portals using this plugin are at risk of reputational damage, financial loss, and regulatory penalties if the vulnerability is exploited.

Organizations should immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify the use of Contact Form 7 – PayPal & Stripe add-on, particularly versions up to 2.3.4. Until an official patch is released, consider the following mitigations: 1) Restrict high-privilege user access and enforce strong authentication and session management policies to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 2) Implement Web Application Firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious input patterns associated with XSS attacks targeting the plugin. 3) Conduct regular security training to raise awareness about phishing and social engineering that could lead to user interaction exploitation. 4) Sanitize and validate all user inputs at the application level, and consider disabling or limiting the use of the vulnerable add-on if feasible. 5) Monitor logs for unusual activity related to form submissions or administrative actions. 6) Stay alert for vendor updates or patches and apply them promptly once available. 7) Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to reduce the impact of potential script injection.