CVE-2026-2986
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 Contextual Related Posts plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'other_attributes' parameter in versions up to, and including, 4.2.1 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 confidenceThe Contextual Related Posts WordPress plugin (versions up to 4.2.1) has a stored XSS vulnerability in the 'other_attributes' parameter. Authenticated attackers with contributor-level access or higher can inject malicious JavaScript through insufficient input sanitization, which persists in the database and executes when users access affected pages.
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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Locate the Contextual Related Posts pluginCheck the wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'contextual-related-posts' or look for the plugin in WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed PluginsAffected if The plugin is present in the WordPress installation
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Determine the installed plugin versionOpen the main plugin file (usually contextual-related-posts.php) and locate the version number in the plugin header comment at the top of the fileAffected if The version number is 4.2.1 or lower (any version up to and including 4.2.1)
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Inspect the other_attributes setting in the databaseQuery the wp_options table for the option_name containing 'crp_other_attributes' or the plugin's option name; examine the stored value for any script tags, event handlers, or suspicious HTMLAffected if The other_attributes field contains unescaped HTML, JavaScript tags, or attributes like onmouseover, onclick, or javascript: URIs
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Check for persisted malicious scripts in post metaQuery wp_postmeta for any meta_key related to the plugin (such as crp_other_attributes) and inspect values for XSS patternsAffected if The database contains script tags, encoded characters that decode to HTML/JS, or suspicious attribute values that could execute when the related posts are displayed
A user is affected if the Contextual Related Posts plugin is installed with version 4.2.1 or lower AND the other_attributes parameter contains unsanitized content that could execute malicious JavaScript.
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 the Contextual Related Posts plugin to a version beyond 4.2.1. If an update is unavailable, disable the plugin until a patched version is released.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-2986 — 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-2026-2986 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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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.
- 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