Reflected Cross-Site Scripting in K-news Plugin for WordPress
CVE-2012-20004

5.1MEDIUM

Key Information:

Vendor

WordPress
Status
K-news
Vendor
CVE Published:
20 October 2026

Badges

👾 Exploit Exists🟡 Public PoC

What is CVE-2012-20004?

The K-news plugin for WordPress versions before 1.1.1 is susceptible to a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts into the application's response by manipulating the 'ff' parameter. By sending crafted GET requests to /wp-content/plugins/knews/wysiwyg/fontpicker/index.php with insecure 'ff' values, attackers can execute scripts that may lead to session cookie theft and other malicious actions. The exploit was documented by Shadowserver Foundation on October 19, 2023.

Affected Version(s)

K-news 0 < 1.1.1

Exploit Proof of Concept (PoC)

PoC code is written by security researchers to demonstrate the vulnerability can be exploited. PoC code is also a key component for weaponization which could lead to ransomware.

CVE-2012-20004 - Proof of Concept

References

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/37484
exploit
http://web.archive.org/web/20210213220043/https://www.sec...
technical-description
https://www.acunetix.com/vulnerabilities/web/wordpress-pl...
third-party-advisory

CVSS V4

Score:
5.1
Severity:
MEDIUM
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
None
Attack Vector:
Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Attack Required:
None
Privileges Required:
Undefined
User Interaction:
Unknown

Timeline

  • 🟡

    Public PoC available

  • 👾

    Exploit known to exist

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

Credit

Sammy FORGIT
The Shadowserver Foundation
.