CVE-2025-48358 is a stored Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability identified in the 'Risk Free Cash On Delivery (COD)' plugin for WooCommerce, developed by everythingwp. This vulnerability arises due to improper neutralization of input during web page generation, classified under CWE-79. Specifically, the plugin fails to adequately sanitize or encode user-supplied input before rendering it on web pages, allowing malicious actors to inject and store arbitrary JavaScript code. When other users or administrators access the affected pages, the malicious script executes in their browsers. The vulnerability affects versions up to 1.0.4 of the plugin. According to the CVSS v3.1 scoring, it has a score of 5.9 (medium severity) with the vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L, indicating that the attack can be performed remotely over the network with low attack complexity but requires high privileges and user interaction. The scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability affects resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. The impact includes limited confidentiality, integrity, and availability losses due to script execution. No known exploits are currently in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability is significant because WooCommerce is a widely used e-commerce platform, and plugins like this one extend its functionality. Stored XSS can lead to session hijacking, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites, posing risks to both site administrators and customers.

For European organizations using WooCommerce with the 'Risk Free Cash On Delivery (COD)' plugin, this vulnerability can lead to unauthorized script execution within the context of their e-commerce sites. This can compromise customer data confidentiality, including personal and payment information, and undermine the integrity of the online store by enabling attackers to manipulate displayed content or inject fraudulent transactions. Availability may also be impacted if attackers use the vulnerability to disrupt site functionality or perform denial-of-service attacks via malicious scripts. Given the e-commerce focus, reputational damage and regulatory non-compliance risks (e.g., GDPR) are also significant. The requirement for high privileges to exploit reduces the risk from external attackers but elevates the threat from insiders or compromised administrator accounts. User interaction is necessary, typically involving an administrator or user viewing the malicious content, which means social engineering or phishing could be used to facilitate exploitation. Overall, the vulnerability poses a moderate risk to European e-commerce businesses relying on this plugin, especially those with high transaction volumes or sensitive customer data.

1. Immediate mitigation should involve auditing and restricting administrative access to trusted personnel only, minimizing the risk of privilege abuse. 2. Implement strict input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data within the plugin code to neutralize potentially malicious scripts. 3. Monitor and sanitize existing stored data that may contain malicious payloads to prevent execution upon page rendering. 4. Disable or remove the 'Risk Free Cash On Delivery (COD)' plugin if it is not essential, or replace it with alternative plugins that have been verified as secure. 5. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts on the website. 6. Regularly update WooCommerce and all plugins to their latest versions once patches become available. 7. Conduct security awareness training for administrators to recognize and avoid social engineering attempts that could facilitate exploitation. 8. Use web application firewalls (WAFs) configured to detect and block XSS attack patterns targeting the affected plugin endpoints. These measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on privilege management, data sanitization, and layered defenses tailored to the plugin's context.