This article is a part of our Vulnerability Database (back to index)
Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Page Speed Booster Project
Authenticated (admin+) Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Gabe Livan's Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster plugin <= 1.3.8.4 at WordPress. (2022-10-11, CVE-2021-36899)
The Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster WordPress plugin before 1.3.8.5 does not escape the wpacu_selected_sub_tab_area parameter before outputting it back in an attribute in an admin page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting issue (2022-02-01, CVE-2021-24937)
The Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster WordPress plugin before 1.3.8.5 does not sanitise and escape POSted parameters sent to the wpassetcleanup_fetch_active_plugins_icons AJAX action (available to admin users), leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting issue (2022-02-01, CVE-2021-24983)
Why Cross-site Scripting can be dangerous
Cross site scripting is an attack where a web page executes code that is injected by an adversary. It usually appears, when users input is presented. This attack can be used to impersonate a user, take over control of the session, or even steal API keys.
The attack can be executed e.g. when you application injects the request parameter directly into the HTML code of the page returned to the user:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=Transaction+Complete
what results in:
<span>Confirmation: Transaction Complete</span>
In that case the message can be modified to become a valid Javascript code, e.g.:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=<script>dangerous javascript code here</script>
and it will be executed locally by the user's browser with full access to the user's personal application/browser data:
<span>Confirmation: <script>dangerous javascript code here</script></span>