CVE-2026-5077
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 · uneditedThe Total theme for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via post titles in versions up to, and including, 2.2.1 due to insufficient output escaping when rendering the_title() inside HTML attribute context in the home blog section template. 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. Exploitation requires the malicious post to be published and displayed with a featured image in the Home Page blog section.
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 confidenceThe Total WordPress theme has a stored XSS vulnerability in its home blog section template where the_title() is rendered inside HTML attribute context without proper output escaping. Authenticated attackers with contributor-level access can inject malicious JavaScript via post titles that executes when users view pages displaying the affected blog section with featured images.
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
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Total theme is installedNavigate to Appearance > Themes in WordPress admin and verify the Total theme is installed and activatedAffected if Total theme is active and in use
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Identify Total theme versionCheck the theme's style.css file (usually in wp-content/themes/total/) or view the theme details in Appearance > Themes to find the version numberAffected if Version is lower than 2.2.2 (vulnerable versions)
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Verify home blog section is configuredCheck if a page is assigned to display the blog section using the Total theme's home blog template. Look in WordPress admin under Pages or Theme Settings for home blog configurationAffected if A page uses the home blog section template
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Inspect the template file for escapingLocate the home blog section template file (typically includes/home-blog-section.php or similar in the theme folder) and search for instances of the_title() used inside HTML attribute contexts like alt, title, or value attributes without esc_attr() wrapperAffected if the_title() appears unescaped inside HTML attributes in the template
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Check for contributor-level usersIn WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and review user roles. Contributor role allows post creation which could be used to inject malicious titlesAffected if Any contributor-level or higher users exist on the site
You are affected if the Total theme version is below 2.2.2 and the home blog section template is in use with unescaped the_title() calls in HTML attribute context.
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 the Total theme to version 2.2.2 or later which implements proper escaping (esc_attr()) for the_title() in the home blog section template, or manually apply escaping to the template file.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-5077 — 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-2026-5077 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