What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-36854: Async JavaScript <= 2.19.07.14 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting

• Severity: medium (CVSS 6.4 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2025-10-18 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-79

Description

The Async JavaScript plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 2.19.07.14. This is due to missing authorization checks on the aj_steps AJAX aciton along with a lack on sanitization on the settings saved via the function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber level permissions and above to inject malicious web scripts into a page that execute whenever a user accesses that page.

Affected products

• cloughit Async JavaScript: before 2.20.02.27 — fixed in 2.20.02.27

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: cloughit Async JavaScript 2.20.02.27. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2020/02/site-takeover-campaign-exploits-multiple-zero-day-vulnerabilities/
• https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b133888c-7673-4796-917c-486bff1b6b12?source=cve

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