dbcve.org
Cross-site Scripting (XSS)Weakness · CWE-79

CVE-2026-2840

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
The Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'eeb_mailto' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

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 confidence

The Email Encoder WordPress plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape the 'eeb_mailto' shortcode attributes, allowing authenticated contributors+ to inject persistent JavaScript that executes for all users visiting affected pages.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to version 2.4.5 or later which implements proper input sanitization and output escaping; until then, review user permissions and audit existing content for injected shortcodes.

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 checks

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

  1. Verify Email Encoder plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Email Encoder' or 'Email Encoder Bundle' in the list
    Affected if plugin is not found in the installed plugins list
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find Email Encoder and note the version number displayed below the plugin name
    Affected if version is present and is lower than 2.4.5 (or version cannot be determined)
  3. Identify usage of eeb_mailto shortcode
    Search WordPress content (posts, pages, custom post types) for the shortcode pattern '[eeb_mailto' using database query: SELECT ID, post_title FROM wp_posts WHERE post_content LIKE '%[eeb_mailto%' AND post_status='publish';
    Affected if any published content contains the eeb_mailto shortcode
  4. Review user accounts with contributor+ roles
    In WordPress admin, go to Users and review the role column; check for any users with Contributor, Author, Editor, or Administrator roles who may have authored content with the shortcode
    Affected if any users with contributor-level or higher access exist and shortcode is in use
  5. Inspect shortcode attributes in existing content
    Examine the content found in step 3 to see what attributes are passed to the eeb_mailto shortcode (e.g., email, subject, body parameters)
    Affected if shortcode attributes contain unsanitized user-supplied values that could include malicious scripts

If the Email Encoder plugin is installed with a version below 2.4.5 AND the eeb_mailto shortcode is present in published content, the environment is affected by this stored XSS vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the plugin to version 2.4.5 or later which implements proper input sanitization and output escaping; until then, review user permissions and audit existing content for injected shortcodes.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Email Encoder plugin version 2.4.5 or later

  1. Backup your WordPress site before making any changes
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin dashboard
  3. Find the 'Email Encoder' plugin and check for available updates
  4. Update the plugin to version 2.4.5 or the latest available version
  5. Verify the update was successfully applied by checking the plugin version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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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-2026-2840 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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