Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-24331 is a stored cross-site scripting issue in the Smooth Scroll Page Up/Down Buttons WordPress plugin before 1.4. A high-privilege user could save unsafe script content in plugin settings because validation was only client-side. Business risk is mainly for sites where admin accounts are shared, delegated, or compromised.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate hygiene and trust-boundary issue. It is not shown as actively exploited in the provided sources, but stored XSS in WordPress administration can become serious if admin accounts are compromised or delegated broadly.
Technical view
The plugin failed to properly sanitize and validate settings including psb_distance, psb_buttonsize, and psb_speed. Sources classify this as CWE-79. The described attacker is authenticated and high privilege, such as an administrator, and the result is stored XSS through plugin configuration values.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress installations running Smooth Scroll Page Up/Down Buttons before 1.4. Risk is higher on multisite or managed environments where administrators are not fully trusted, or where admin compromise is a realistic scenario.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not identify CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Public vulnerability references exist, but the evidence provided supports only a high-privilege authenticated stored XSS condition, not unauthenticated or mass exploitation.
Researcher notes
Evidence is concise and centered on missing server-side sanitization for plugin settings. The affected range is described as before 1.4, while detailed CVSS and exploit status are not provided in the bundle. Avoid assuming broader impact without confirming plugin output paths.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all sites using Smooth Scroll Page Up/Down Buttons.
- Upgrade from vulnerable pre-1.4 versions where the plugin remains required.
- Remove the plugin if it is unused or no longer maintained.
- Restrict WordPress administrator access to trusted accounts only.
- Review vendor and WPScan guidance for current remediation details.
Validation and detection
- Check installed plugin version on each WordPress site.
- Review plugin settings for unexpected script-like content.
- Confirm only trusted users have administrator-level access.
- Verify the plugin update or removal in staging first.
- Monitor WordPress logs for suspicious administrator setting changes.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-24331 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/2c7ca586-def8-4723-b779-09d7f37fa1abCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://m0ze.ru/vulnerability/%5B2021-04-24%5D-%5BWordPress%5D-%5BCWE-79%5D-Smooth-Scroll-Page-UpDown-Buttons-WordPress-Plugin-v1.3.txtCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.