CVE-2026-12098
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 · uneditedThe PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'embed' Episode Meta Field in all versions up to, and including, 11.16.8 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. The embed value is stored via update_post_meta() rather than through WordPress core's post content pipeline, meaning kses-on-save filtering is never applied — even for Author-role users who would otherwise lack unfiltered_html — making this path unprotected by WordPress's standard role-based XSS mitigations.
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 · high confidenceThe PowerPress Podcasting plugin for WordPress has a Stored XSS vulnerability in the 'embed' Episode Meta Field. The issue stems from update_post_meta() bypassing WordPress's kses-on-save filtering, allowing Author-level users (who normally lack unfiltered_html capability) to inject arbitrary JavaScript via insufficient input sanitization and missing output escaping.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify PowerPress plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'PowerPress Podcasting' in the list. Note the version number displayed.Affected if PowerPress is installed and version is below 11.16.9 (the fixed release)
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Confirm Author-level user accounts existIn WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and check if any users have the 'Author' role assigned.Affected if At least one user with Author role exists and can access episode editing capabilities
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Verify episode post type supports the embed fieldIn WordPress admin, go to Episodes (or Posts if using post-based episodes) and attempt to add or edit an episode. Look for the 'embed' meta field in the Episode settings panel.Affected if The embed field is visible and editable by Author-level users
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Check if output escaping is missing (visual inspection)View the source HTML of a published episode page that contains an embed value. Search for the embed field content in the HTML to see if it's rendered without proper escaping (e.g., unescaped <script> tags or event handlers).Affected if Embed field content appears in HTML without proper encoding (e.g., raw JavaScript or HTML tags are visible)
User is affected if PowerPress version is below 11.16.9 AND Author-role users can access the embed Episode Meta Field without additional security constraints.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate PowerPress to the latest version (11.16.9 or later) which includes proper input sanitization for the embed field and output escaping when rendering. If immediate update is not possible, disable the embed feature or restrict access to episode editing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12098 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-12098 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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