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Wordpress Popular PostsWordPress extension · Wordpress Popular Posts Project

CVE-2021-20746

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.3.2 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cross-site scripting vulnerability in WordPress Popular Posts 5.3.2 and earlier allows a remote authenticated attacker to inject an arbitrary script via unspecified vectors.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Authenticated cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in WordPress Popular Posts plugin versions 5.3.2 and earlier allows a remote authenticated attacker to inject arbitrary JavaScript code via unspecified vectors, likely through plugin parameters that aren't properly sanitized before output.

MitigationUpdate WordPress Popular Posts to the latest patched version (5.3.3+) and audit plugin settings/input fields for proper sanitization and output encoding.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Wordpress Popular PostsWordPress extension
Affected:<= 5.3.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if WordPress Popular Posts plugin is installed
    Access your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, and search for 'WordPress Popular Posts' in the list. Alternatively, check your wp-content/plugins directory for a folder named 'wordpress-popular-posts'.
    Affected if The plugin is not found in the plugins list or directory, meaning the vulnerability does not apply to your environment.
  2. Determine the installed version of WordPress Popular Posts
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate WordPress Popular Posts. The version number is displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, open the main plugin file (wordpress-popular-posts.php) in wp-content/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/ and look for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block.
    Affected if The displayed version is 5.3.2 or any version lower than 5.3.2.
  3. Verify if the plugin is actively configured
    Check if the WordPress Popular Posts widget is in use on your site by visiting Appearance > Widgets, or if the shortcode [wordpush_popular_posts] is embedded in any pages/posts. Also check if the plugin has created its database tables or settings in wp_options table with option_name containing 'popular_posts'.
    Affected if The plugin has an active configuration or is actively displaying popular posts on your site, making the XSS vector potentially reachable.
  4. Confirm authentication requirements for the attack vector
    Determine if user accounts exist with access to WordPress admin area (administrator, editor, or author roles) or if any user registration is enabled. The authenticated XSS requires an attacker to have at least contributor-level access to submit the malicious payload through plugin parameters.
    Affected if Your site has any user accounts with admin/editor/author capabilities, or permits user registration with elevated permissions, creating the conditions for authenticated exploitation.

You are affected if WordPress Popular Posts version 5.3.2 or lower is installed and active on your site, and your WordPress installation permits authenticated users with access to plugin parameters.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 5.3.2
Interim mitigation

Update WordPress Popular Posts to the latest patched version (5.3.3+) and audit plugin settings/input fields for proper sanitization and output encoding.

Fix this in Wordpress Popular Posts Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-20746 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data