CVE-2025-47520 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 Charitable plugin developed by Syed Balkhi, specifically versions up to 1.8.5.1. The flaw allows an attacker to inject malicious scripts that are stored persistently within the application, leading to Stored XSS attacks. Stored XSS occurs when malicious input is saved by the application and later rendered in web pages viewed by other users without proper sanitization or encoding. This can result in the execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the victim's browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, defacement, redirection to malicious sites, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim. The CVSS 3.1 score of 5.9 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating that the attack can be launched remotely over the network (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), but requires high privileges (PR:H) and user interaction (UI:R). The scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability affects resources beyond the security scope of the vulnerable component. The impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is low to medium (C:L/I:L/A:L). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability was published on May 7, 2025, and has been enriched by CISA, indicating recognition by US cybersecurity authorities. Stored XSS vulnerabilities in web plugins like Charitable are significant because they can compromise the trustworthiness of websites using the plugin, especially those handling donations or charitable activities, potentially damaging reputation and user trust.

For European organizations using the Charitable plugin, this vulnerability poses risks primarily to the confidentiality and integrity of user data and the availability of the web service. Attackers exploiting this Stored XSS could hijack user sessions, steal sensitive information such as donation details or personal data, and perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users or administrators. This could lead to financial fraud, data breaches, and reputational damage. Given that charitable organizations often handle sensitive donor information and rely on public trust, exploitation could undermine donor confidence and result in regulatory scrutiny under GDPR for inadequate data protection. Additionally, the requirement for high privileges to exploit the vulnerability suggests that attackers may need to compromise an account with elevated permissions first, which could be feasible through phishing or credential theft. The need for user interaction means social engineering could be a vector. The changed scope indicates that the vulnerability might allow attackers to affect other components or users beyond the immediate plugin context, potentially amplifying the impact. Overall, European charitable organizations and NGOs using this plugin are at risk of targeted attacks that could disrupt fundraising activities and expose personal data, leading to financial and legal consequences.

1. Immediate action should be to monitor for updates or patches from Syed Balkhi and apply them as soon as they become available. 2. Until a patch is released, restrict high-privilege user access to the Charitable plugin and enforce strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of privilege escalation. 3. Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts and reduce the impact of XSS attacks. 4. Conduct thorough input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within the plugin's context, if customization or code review is possible. 5. Educate users and administrators about phishing and social engineering risks to minimize the chance of attackers gaining the required high privileges. 6. Regularly audit logs for suspicious activities related to the plugin and user accounts with elevated privileges. 7. Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules tailored to detect and block XSS payloads targeting the Charitable plugin. 8. Backup website data and configurations regularly to enable quick recovery in case of compromise. 9. Engage with the plugin vendor or community to report any suspicious activity or to obtain early warnings about patches or mitigations.