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

CVE-2026-4072

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 WordPress PayPal Donation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'donate' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 1.01. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied shortcode attributes such as 'amount', 'email', 'title', 'return_url', 'cancel_url', 'ccode', and 'image'. The wordpress_paypal_donation_create() function uses extract(shortcode_atts(...)) to process shortcode attributes and then directly interpolates these values into HTML output within single-quoted attribute values 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 WordPress PayPal Donation plugin (versions up to 1.01) has a stored XSS vulnerability in the wordpress_paypal_donation_create() function. The function uses extract(shortcode_atts(...)) to process shortcode attributes ('amount', 'email', 'title', 'return_url', 'cancel_url', 'ccode', 'image') and directly interpolates these values into HTML single-quoted attributes without escaping, allowing script injection.

MitigationReplace direct interpolation of shortcode attributes with proper WordPress escaping functions (esc_attr()) in the wordpress_paypal_donation_create() function, or update to a patched version if available.

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 PayPal Donation plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'PayPal Donation' or check wp-content/plugins/ directory for a paypal-donation folder
    Affected if Plugin is not installed means not affected
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin plugins list, look at the version column for PayPal Donation plugin; alternatively, read the main plugin PHP file header for 'Version:' tag
    Affected if Version 1.01 or lower indicates the plugin is in the affected range
  3. Locate the vulnerable function
    In the plugin directory, search for the function 'wordpress_paypal_donation_create' in PHP files (e.g., grep -r 'function wordpress_paypal_donation_create' or inspect the main plugin file)
    Affected if Function exists in the codebase - proceed to next check; if absent, likely not affected (patched or different variant)
  4. Confirm shortcode registration exists
    Search for 'add_shortcode' calls registering 'paypal_donation' or similar (e.g., grep -r 'add_shortcode' in plugin folder)
    Affected if Shortcode is registered and in use, making the vulnerable code path reachable
  5. Inspect function for unescaped output
    Examine the wordpress_paypal_donation_create function code - look for extract() combined with direct echo/print of shortcode atts into HTML without esc_attr() or similar escaping
    Affected if Code shows extract(shortcode_atts(...)) followed by interpolation into HTML without proper escaping (no esc_attr(), esc_html() on the attributes)

User is affected if PayPal Donation plugin version 1.01 or lower is installed, the wordpress_paypal_donation_create function exists, and the code shows unescaped shortcode attributes being output into HTML.

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

Replace direct interpolation of shortcode attributes with proper WordPress escaping functions (esc_attr()) in the wordpress_paypal_donation_create() function, or update to a patched version if available.

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
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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-2026-4072 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