# CVE-2023-5209: Bookly < 22.5 - Admin+ Stored XSS

> Admins can inject malicious scripts via unsanitized settings in the Bookly plugin, enabling stored XSS attacks in multisite environments.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hgwf-985j-mh3j

## What is CVE-2023-5209?

CVE-2023-5209 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Unknown WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin, published on 27 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin WordPress plugin before 22.5 does not sanitise and escape some of its settings, which could allow high privilege users such as admin to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting attacks even when the unfiltered_html capability is disallowed (for example in multisite setup)

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5209?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Booking-Wp-Plugin Bookly.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5209?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5209 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5209 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5209 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin

- [CVE-2023-4691](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4691/): Bookly < 22.4 - Admin+ SQLi (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2023-1172](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1172/): Cross-site scripting in WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin – Bookly (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2018-6891](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6891/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2021-24930](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-24930/): Bookly < 20.3.1 - Staff Member Stored Cross-Site Scripting (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2023-1159](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1159/): Cross-site scripting in WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin – Bookly (medium 4.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5209 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5209 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Unknown WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin, published on 27 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5209 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Unknown WordPress Online Booking and Scheduling Plugin. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5209/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5209/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5209
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5209
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5209

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5209/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.