CVE-2026-8071
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 Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. Spam protection WordPress plugin before 6.79 does not properly sanitize content within a custom shortcode used in its email-encoding feature, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts into approved comments that will execute when any user (including administrators) views the post.
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 Anti-Spam by CleanTalk WordPress plugin before version 6.79 contains a stored XSS vulnerability in its email-encoding shortcode feature. The plugin fails to properly sanitize input, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into comments. When approved and viewed by any user (including administrators), the injected script executes, potentially leading to session hijacking or administrative account compromise.
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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 the plugin is installed and note its versionNavigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and locate 'Anti-Spam by CleanTalk' in the plugin list. The version number is displayed below the plugin name.Affected if The displayed version is lower than 6.79 (e.g., 6.78, 6.77, etc.)
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Confirm the email-encoding shortcode feature is activeGo to plugin settings: CleanTalk Anti-Spam > Settings (or similar). Look for options labeled 'Email encoding', 'Shortcode', 'Encode emails', or similar. Check if the feature is enabled or toggled on.Affected if The email-encoding shortcode feature is enabled or present in the configuration.
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Check for custom shortcode usage in comments or postsReview recent approved comments or use WordPress search to find instances of the shortcode (commonly [cleantalk_email_encode] or similar patterns) in posts/pages where comments are enabled.Affected if The shortcode is present in comment content, post content, or custom shortcode fields that could be populated by untrusted users.
You are affected if the plugin version is below 6.79 AND the email-encoding shortcode feature is enabled, particularly if comments are open on your site.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate the Anti-Spam by CleanTalk plugin to version 6.79 or later. Until the update is applied, consider disabling the email-encoding shortcode feature or using an alternative spam protection solution.
Anti-Spam by CleanTalk version 6.79 or later
- Log in to WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Find 'Anti-Spam by CleanTalk' in the plugin list
- Check the current version installed
- If the version is below 6.79, click 'Update Now' to update to the latest version
- Alternatively, download version 6.79 or later from the WordPress Plugin Repository and upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
- After update, verify the new version number in the plugins list
- Clear any caching plugins if present
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-8071 — 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-2026-8071 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