CVE-2026-42728
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 · uneditedImproper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in HT Plugins HT Contact Form 7 ht-contactform allows Stored XSS.This issue affects HT Contact Form 7: from n/a through <= 2.8.2.
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 · moderate confidenceStored Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in HT Contact Form 7 WordPress plugin allows authenticated or unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript through form fields. The injected payload is stored in the database and executed when admin or users view the submitted data in the WordPress admin panel or frontend, leading to session hijacking or privilege escalation.
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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Verify HT Contact Form 7 plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'HT Contact Form 7' in the listAffected if Plugin is present and active in the WordPress installation
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Determine installed plugin versionIn the Plugins list, click on the plugin name or view the plugin header comment in wp-content/plugins/ht-contact-form-7/ht-contact-form-7.php to find the Version: X.X.X fieldAffected if Version number is lower than the patched version released for this CVE
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Confirm form submissions are being collectedCheck the WordPress database table wp_htcf7_entries (or similar submission table created by the plugin) for any form submission records using phpMyAdmin or WP CLI: wp db query "SELECT * FROM wp_htcf7_entries LIMIT 5;"Affected if Form submissions exist and can be viewed through the admin panel
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Inspect stored form data for unescaped contentView submitted entries through the plugin admin interface (HT Contact Form 7 > Entries) and examine the actual field values displayed, or query the database directly for script tags: wp db query "SELECT * FROM wp_htcf7_entries WHERE field_value LIKE '%<script%';"Affected if Field values contain raw HTML/JavaScript without sanitization appearing in the admin panel
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Check plugin file handling for output escapingExamine the plugin file that renders form submission data (typically in the plugin admin folder or includes folder) for presence of esc_html(), esc_attr(), or wp_kses() functions when outputting field valuesAffected if Plugin outputs form field data without proper escaping functions, allowing stored JavaScript to execute
User is affected if HT Contact Form 7 plugin is installed, the version predates the patch, and form submissions exist in the database that could contain malicious JavaScript executed upon viewing.
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 to the latest patched version of HT Contact Form 7 plugin; if no patch available, implement proper input validation and output escaping (esc_html, esc_attr, wp_kses) on all form field outputs in the plugin code.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-42728 — 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-2026-42728 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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- 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