CVEs / CVE-2019-9978
CVE-2019-9978: WordPress Social Warfare Plugin Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability
- Known exploited in the CISA KEV catalog since 3 Nov 2021
- medium 6.1 CVSS 3.1 (NVD)
- EPSS 72.9% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of CVEs (30 Oct 2026)
- Last changed at its sources
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Summary
WordPress Social Warfare plugin contains a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows for remote code execution. This vulnerability affects Social Warfare and Social Warfare Pro.
Description
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.
Affected and fixed versions
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| n/a n/a | n/a | — |
Exploitation
| In CISA KEV since | 3 Nov 2021 |
|---|---|
| Due date for US federal agencies | 3 May 2022 |
| Used in ransomware campaigns | Unknown |
| Required action | Apply updates per vendor instructions. |
Severity
| CVSS 3.1 | 6.1 mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:NScored by NVD |
|---|---|
| Weakness | CWE-79 |
References
- CVE-2019-9978 on NVD
- CVE-2019-9978 in the CISA KEV catalog
- CVE-2019-9978 on OSV
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152722/Wordpress-Social-Warfare-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163680/WordPress-Social-Warfare-3.5.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://blog.sucuri.net/2019/03/zero-day-stored-xss-in-social-warfare.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://twitter.com/warfareplugins/status/1108852747099652099 Third Party Advisory
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-warfare/#developers Product
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9238 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cybersecurity-help.cz/vdb/SB2019032105 Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46794/ Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2019/03/21/full-disclosure-of-settings-change-persistent-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability-in-social-warfare/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2019/03/unpatched-zero-day-vulnerability-in-social-warfare-plugin-exploited-in-the-wild/ Third Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jun/1 Mailing List
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-9978 US Government Resource
Sources
Exploitation status from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EPSS scores from FIRST. Descriptions, severity and references from the National Vulnerability Database. Open-source package versions from OSV (CC-BY 4.0). Text is shown as each source states it; Stackurity does not edit it. Check the vendor's advisory before acting.
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.