dbcve.org
Cross-site Scripting (XSS)Weakness · CWE-79

CVE-2026-6255

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-05
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 Simple Owl Shortcodes plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'num' attribute of the 'owls_wrapper' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 2.1.1 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 confidence

The Simple Owl Shortcodes WordPress plugin fails to sanitize the 'num' attribute and escape output in the 'owls_wrapper' shortcode, allowing stored XSS injection. Authenticated users with contributor-level access can embed malicious JavaScript via the shortcode that executes when other users view affected pages.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to a version beyond 2.1.1 once available, or add proper sanitization (e.g., absint()) and output escaping (e.g., esc_attr()) around the 'num' attribute in the owls_wrapper shortcode handler.

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 Simple Owl Shortcodes plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins and check if 'Simple Owl Shortcodes' appears in the installed plugins list
    Affected if Plugin is installed and active
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin > Plugins, find Simple Owl Shortcodes and view the version number displayed beneath the plugin name
    Affected if Version is 2.1.1 or earlier (no patch available at time of disclosure)
  3. Identify usage of owls_wrapper shortcode
    Search post content, page content, and custom post types for the shortcode [owls_wrapper] using WordPress admin search or database query on wp_posts table
    Affected if The [owls_wrapper] shortcode is present in any published content
  4. Inspect shortcode handler code for sanitization
    Access the plugin file (typically in /wp-content/plugins/ directory under a folder named simple-owl-shortcodes or similar) and locate the owls_wrapper shortcode handler function. Check if the 'num' attribute uses absint() for sanitization and esc_attr() for output escaping
    Affected if Code lacks absint() on 'num' attribute or esc_attr() when outputting the value

If the Simple Owl Shortcodes plugin is installed, version 2.1.1 or earlier, and contains the [owls_wrapper] shortcode with unescaped 'num' attribute handling, the site is vulnerable to stored XSS

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the plugin to a version beyond 2.1.1 once available, or add proper sanitization (e.g., absint()) and output escaping (e.g., esc_attr()) around the 'num' attribute in the owls_wrapper shortcode handler.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest version available on wordpress.org (version higher than 2.1.1)

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Find the 'Simple Owl Shortcodes' plugin
  4. Check if an update is available and update to the latest version
  5. If no update is visible in WordPress, manually download the latest version from wordpress.org/plugins/simple-owl-shortcodes/ and upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
  6. After updating, verify the fix by confirming the 'owls_wrapper' shortcode properly sanitizes the 'num' attribute

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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-2026-6255 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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