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Cross-site Scripting (XSS)Weakness · CWE-79

CVE-2026-38949

HIGH · 8.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 (XSS) vulnerability exists in HTMLy version 3.1.1 in the content creation functionality at the /add/content?type=image endpoint. The application fails to properly sanitize user input, allowing injection of arbitrary code

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

HTMLy version 3.1.1 contains a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the content creation functionality at the /add/content?type=image endpoint. The application fails to properly sanitize user input during the image content creation process, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript code that executes in the browsers of other users viewing the injected content.

MitigationImplement proper input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied content in the content creation functionality. Specifically, sanitize input in the /add/content?type=image endpoint using context-appropriate encoding before rendering any user-provided content.

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
Low

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

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 installed HTMLy CMS version
    Locate the version file or footer in HTMLy (commonly in footer.php, config.php, or a VERSION file in the root directory). Check the version string against 3.1.1.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.1.1 or falls within the affected range around this version.
  2. Verify the content creation endpoint exists
    Check if the /add/content?type=image route is accessible by attempting to access it or inspecting the application's routing configuration. In HTMLy, this typically maps to the admin panel functionality.
    Affected if The endpoint responds and allows access to the image content creation form.
  3. Inspect content storage for unsanitized image content
    Examine the database or flat-file storage where content is saved (check the /content/ or /databin/ directories, or the database tables for the 'image' content type). Look for any existing image content entries that contain HTML or JavaScript tags in their fields.
    Affected if Image content entries contain raw HTML or script tags without encoding or sanitization in title, description, or other content fields.
  4. Review source code for input sanitization on the vulnerable endpoint
    Inspect the PHP file handling /add/content?type=image (likely in the admin or content controller). Search for sanitization functions (htmlspecialchars, strip_tags, etc.) applied to image content fields before storage.
    Affected if The code lacks proper output encoding or input validation on the fields used for image content creation, or no sanitization function is called on the input.
  5. Check for stored XSS in content display
    Locate the template or rendering code that displays image content to users. Determine if content is rendered without escaping (using raw echo or unescaped variables).
    Affected if Image content is rendered to users using functions that do not encode HTML entities, allowing stored scripts to execute.

If HTMLy CMS version 3.1.1 is running, the /add/content?type=image endpoint exists, and stored content renders without sanitization, 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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied content in the content creation functionality. Specifically, sanitize input in the /add/content?type=image endpoint using context-appropriate encoding before rendering any user-provided content.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2026-38949 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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