# CVE-2023-5942: Medialist < 1.4.1 - Contributor+ Stored XSS

> Contributors can inject malicious scripts via shortcode attributes in the Medialist plugin, leading to stored XSS attacks.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 5 Jun 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5c7f-c4vf-5xcw

## What is CVE-2023-5942?

CVE-2023-5942 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Unknown Medialist, published on 27 Nov 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Medialist WordPress plugin before 1.4.1 does not validate and escape some of its shortcode attributes before outputting them back in a page/post where the shortcode is embed, which could allow users with the contributor role and above to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting attacks

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5942?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Drelton Medialist.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5942?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5942 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5942 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-5942 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown Medialist

- [CVE-2023-46640](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46640/): WordPress Medialist Plugin <= 1.3.9 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5942 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5942 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Unknown Medialist, published on 27 Nov 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-5942 exists.

Affected product: Unknown Medialist. 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-2023-5942/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5942/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5942
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5942
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5942

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5942/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.