CVE-2019-9978
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…
- 6.1MediumCVSS base score
- 72.9%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.5% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as WordPress Social Warfare Plugin Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Nuclei template and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits4
Nuclei templates1 template
- WordPress Social Warfare <3.5.3 - Cross-Site Scripting (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2019/CVE-2019-9978.yamlSeverity medium
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Social Warfare WordPress Plugin 3.5.2 - Remote Code Execution (RCE) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 52346webapps, multiplepublished 26 Jun 2025Not verified
- WordPress Plugin Social Warfare < 3.5.3 - Remote Code Execution (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 46794webapps, phppublished 3 May 2019Not verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 46794 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Medium6.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Medium6.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 72.9% · top 0.5% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.1.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
References12
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9238 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.cybersecurity-help.cz/vdb/SB2019032105 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.sucuri.net/2019/03/zero-day-stored-xss-in-social-warfare.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2019/03/unpatched-zero-day-vulnerability-in-social-warfare-plugin-exploited-in-the-wild/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2019/03/21/full-disclosure-of-settings-change-persistent-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability-in-social-warfare/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-warfare/#developers (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://twitter.com/warfareplugins/status/1108852747099652099 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 46794 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152722/Wordpress-Social-Warfare-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163680/WordPress-Social-Warfare-3.5.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jun/1 (opens in a new tab)
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-9978 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2019-19332 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2019-9978)Record last updated .