CVE-2026-42649
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 · uneditedUnauthenticated Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in Favicon Rotator <= 1.2.11 versions.
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 confidenceAn unauthenticated stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Favicon Rotator WordPress plugin versions 1.2.11 and below. Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript payloads through the favicon upload functionality without requiring authentication, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement of admin panels when administrators view the 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Favicon Rotator plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Favicon Rotator' in the list. Note the version number displayed next to the plugin name.Affected if The plugin is installed and active on the WordPress site
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Verify installed version against affected rangeCompare the installed version number to 1.2.11. Any version at or below 1.2.11 is within the affected range.Affected if Installed version is 1.2.11 or lower
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Check if favicon upload functionality is accessibleAttempt to access the favicon upload endpoint or check WordPress settings pages for Favicon Rotator configuration. Since this is unauthenticated, the feature may be reachable without login if the plugin exposes public-facing functionality.Affected if The favicon upload or settings page is accessible without authentication
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Inspect stored favicon entries for suspicious contentExamine the WordPress database table where plugin settings are stored (typically wp_options with option_name containing 'favicon' or 'rotator'). Look for base64-encoded data or script tags in the favicon value fields.Affected if Unexpected JavaScript tags, encoded payloads, or unfamiliar favicon data entries exist in the database
A user is affected if the Favicon Rotator plugin version is 1.2.11 or below and the favicon upload functionality is accessible, as this allows unauthenticated attackers to inject and store 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 Favicon Rotator plugin to the latest version immediately, or remove the plugin if no patched version is available. Audit WordPress installations for this plugin and consider implementing WAF rules to block XSS attack patterns as a temporary defensive measure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-42649 — 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-2026-42649 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