CVE-2019-14470 — cosenary/instagram
MEDIUMCVE-2019-14470 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in cosenary/instagram. 3 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Cosenary Instagram-PHP-API contains reflected XSS vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2019-14470 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
cosenary/instagramReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
cosenary Instagram-PHP-API (aka Instagram PHP API V2), used in the UserPro plugin through 4.9.32 for WordPress, is vulnerable to cross-site scripting via the example/success.php error_description parameter.
Vulnerable code:
if (isset($_GET['error'])) {
echo 'An error occurred: ' . $_GET['error_description'];
}
Proof-of-Concept:
https://domain.tld/wp-content/plugins/userpro/lib/instagram/vendor/cosenary/instagram/example/success.php?error=&error_description=<PAYLOAD>
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | cosenary/instagram | all versions | No fix |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
WordPress Plugin UserPro 4.9.32 - Cross-Site Scripting
by Damian Ebelties · Aug 26, 2019
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for cosenary/instagram, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of cosenary/instagram has shipped for CVE-2019-14470 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2019-14470 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2019-14470. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect CVE-2019-14470
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2019-14470 -u https://target- Template
- WordPress UserPro 4.9.32 - Cross-Site Scripting
- Severity
- medium
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the context of the victim's browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, defacement, or theft of sensitive information.
- Remediation
- Update to the latest version of UserPro or apply the provided patch to fix the XSS vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (daffainfo), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-14470 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2019-14470 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.