CVE-2026-5508
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 WowPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's `wowpress` shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.0. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. 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 confidenceThe WowPress WordPress plugin fails to sanitize user input and escape output in its `wowpress` shortcode attributes, allowing authenticated attackers with contributor-level permissions to inject persistent malicious JavaScript that executes when other users view infected 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify WowPress plugin installation and versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate WowPress. Check the version number displayed. Alternatively, examine the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/wowpress/wowpress.php for 'Version: X.X.X'Affected if The installed version is 1.0.0 or earlier (any version up to 1.0.0 is affected)
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Identify wowpress shortcode usage in contentSearch WordPress database: SELECT ID, post_title, post_type FROM wp_posts WHERE post_content LIKE '%[wowpress%' OR post_content LIKE '%[wowpress %' (adjust prefix if plugin uses different shortcode tag)Affected if Any posts, pages, or custom post types contain the wowpress shortcode, creating potential XSS vectors
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Inspect shortcode attributes for unsanitized inputExamine the post_content for shortcode instances: look for attribute values that may contain script tags, event handlers (onclick, onerror, etc.), or suspicious JavaScript patterns within shortcode attributes like [wowpress attr="value"]Affected if Shortcode attributes contain unescaped HTML, JavaScript, or event handler attributes that could execute in a user's browser
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Review contributor-level user accountsIn WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and filter by role 'Contributor'. Alternatively query: SELECT user_login, user_email FROM wp_users u JOIN wp_usermeta m ON u.ID = m.user_id WHERE m.meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' AND m.meta_value LIKE '%contributor%'Affected if Any contributor-level users exist who could potentially author content with malicious shortcodes
You are affected if the WowPress plugin version is 1.0.0 or earlier AND the wowpress shortcode is present in any content, regardless of whether malicious attributes are currently visible.
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 a patched version when available. Until then, restrict contributor-level access to trusted users only, and manually review existing pages using the wowpress shortcode for suspicious content.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2026-5508 — 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-2026-5508 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
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