CVE-2023-45057: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

The CVE-2023-45057 is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Hitsteps Web Analytics WordPress plugin versions 5.86 and earlier. The vulnerability was discovered by Rio Darmawan and publicly disclosed on October 18, 2023. This security issue affects users with administrator privileges and above, particularly in multisite setups where the unfilteredhtml capability is disallowed ([Patchstack](https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/hitsteps-visitor-manager/wordpress-hitsteps-web-analytics-plugin-5-85-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerability?s_id=cve), WPScan).

The vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to properly validate and escape certain parameters, enabling authenticated users with administrative privileges to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting attacks. The CVSS v3.1 base score is rated at 4.8 (Medium) with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N according to NVD, while Patchstack assigns it a slightly higher score of 5.9 (Medium) with the vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation) (NVD).

The vulnerability could allow malicious actors with administrative access to inject malicious scripts, including redirects, advertisements, and other HTML payloads into the website. These injected scripts would then be executed when guests visit the affected site (Patchstack).

The vulnerability has been patched in version 5.87 of the Hitsteps Web Analytics plugin. Site administrators are advised to update to version 5.87 or later to remove the vulnerability. Patchstack users can enable auto-update functionality for vulnerable plugins as an additional security measure (Patchstack).