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Fencer Intel
medium 6.1

CVE-2019-9978 kev in the critical feed json

The social-warfare plugin before 3.5.3 for WordPress has stored XSS via the wp-admin/admin-post.php?swp_debug=load_options swp_url paramete…

published 7y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2019-19332

cvss
6.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Exploited
added 2021-11-03
epss
72.9%
EPSS 72.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.4%
public exploits
2
Exploit-DB, plus a Nuclei check

Summary

The social-warfare plugin before 3.5.3 for WordPress has stored XSS via the wp-admin/admin-post.php?swp_debug=load_options swp_url parameter, as exploited in the wild in March 2019. This affects Social Warfare and Social Warfare Pro.

Patch / fix

cisa required action Apply updates per vendor instructions.

  • warfareplugins social_warfare 3.5.3
  • warfareplugins social_warfare_pro 3.5.3

Is CVE-2019-9978 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. First public exploit (EDB-46794)
  3. Added to CISA KEV
  4. CISA patch deadline
  5. CISA SSVC: exploitation active

Known exploited

Added
5y ago
Patch by
2022-05-03 (4y ago)
Ransomware
Not known
Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Vendor, product
WordPress, Social Warfare Plugin
CISA name
WordPress Social Warfare Plugin Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Active, exploited in the wild
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
last yr.

Exploit prediction

72.95% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-52346 Social Warfare WordPress Plugin 3.5.2 - Remote Code Execution (RCE) webapps, 2025-06-26
  • EDB-46794 WordPress Plugin Social Warfare < 3.5.3 - Remote Code Execution webapps, 2019-05-03
  • Nuclei template WordPress Social Warfare <3.5.3 - Cross-Site Scripting nuclei detection template
  • cybersecurity-help.cz https://www.cybersecurity-help.cz/vdb/SB2019032105 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • blog.sucuri.net https://blog.sucuri.net/2019/03/zero-day-stored-xss-in-social-warfare.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • pluginvulnerabilities.com https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2019/03/21/full-disclosure-of-settings-change-persistent-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability-in-social-warfare/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152722/Wordpress-Social-Warfare-Remote-Code-Execution.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163680/WordPress-Social-Warfare-3.5.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
NVD 3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CNA 3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.