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

CVE-2026-3996

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-21
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 WP Games Embed plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the [game] shortcode in all versions up to and including 0.1beta. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied shortcode attributes such as 'width', 'height', 'src', 'title', 'description', 'game_url', 'main', and 'thumb', which are all directly concatenated into HTML output without any 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 WP Games Embed WordPress plugin is vulnerable to stored XSS via the [game] shortcode. Eight shortcode attributes (width, height, src, title, description, game_url, main, thumb) are directly concatenated into HTML output without sanitization or escaping, allowing authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access to inject arbitrary JavaScript.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version when available, or implement proper input sanitization (sanitize_text_field, esc_attr) and output escaping (esc_html, esc_url) on all shortcode attributes before HTML rendering.

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. Confirm WP Games Embed plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and verify WP Games Embed appears in the installed plugins list, or check the plugin file /wp-content/plugins/ for a folder containing 'games-embed' or similar
    Affected if The plugin is installed and active in WordPress
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    In Plugins list, click on the plugin name to view details, or open the main plugin PHP file and look for 'Version:' in the plugin header comment
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or is earlier than the patched release (compare against known fixed version when available)
  3. Locate usage of the [game] shortcode in content
    Search WordPress database or content for '[game' shortcode usage: query posts table for post_content containing '[game', or use a plugin/grep to search all post content for the shortcode
    Affected if The [game] shortcode is present in any post, page, or custom post type content
  4. Inspect shortcode attribute handling in plugin code
    Open the main plugin PHP file and locate the shortcode handler function (add_shortcode('game', ...)). Examine how the eight attributes (width, height, src, title, description, game_url, main, thumb) are processed before HTML output
    Affected if Attributes are directly concatenated into HTML strings without sanitize_text_field, esc_attr, esc_html, or esc_url functions applied
  5. Check for unescaped shortcode output in rendered pages
    View a page containing the [game] shortcode in a browser, inspect the HTML source, and verify whether shortcode attribute values appear in the DOM without proper HTML encoding
    Affected if Shortcode attribute values render as raw text in HTML (e.g., title="<script>" instead of title="&lt;script&gt;")

A user is affected if the WP Games Embed plugin is installed, the [game] shortcode is used with any of the eight vulnerable attributes, and those attributes are rendered without sanitization/escaping in the HTML output.

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

Update to a patched version when available, or implement proper input sanitization (sanitize_text_field, esc_attr) and output escaping (esc_html, esc_url) on all shortcode attributes before HTML rendering.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2026-3996 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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