CVE-2026-8872
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 Animate Your Content plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's 'animation-set' shortcode in versions up to, and including, 1.0.0. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes in the shortcode_args_to_html_attrs() function, which concatenates shortcode attribute values directly into double-quoted HTML attributes without calling esc_attr(). 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 Animate Your Content WordPress plugin versions up to 1.0.0 contains a stored XSS vulnerability in the shortcode_args_to_html_attrs() function. The function fails to escape shortcode attribute values using esc_attr() before concatenating them into double-quoted HTML attributes, allowing authenticated contributors+ to inject arbitrary JavaScript.
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 plugin installation and versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins. Look for 'Animate Your Content' plugin. Check the version number under the plugin name. Compare against the affected range (versions up to and including 1.0.0).Affected if The plugin is installed and the version is 1.0.0 or lower.
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Locate the vulnerable functionAccess the plugin files via FTP or file manager. Navigate to the plugin directory (wp-content/plugins/animate-your-content or similar). Search for the function named 'shortcode_args_to_html_attrs' in PHP files.Affected if The function exists in the plugin files.
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Inspect the function for missing escapingOpen the file containing shortcode_args_to_html_attrs(). Examine how shortcode attribute values are handled before being concatenated into HTML attribute strings. Look for instances where attributes are inserted into HTML double-quoted attributes without esc_attr() wrapping.Affected if The function outputs attribute values directly into HTML attributes without esc_attr() escaping.
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Check for registered shortcodesSearch the plugin files for 'add_shortcode' function calls. Identify which shortcodes are registered by this plugin and what attributes they accept.Affected if The plugin registers shortcodes that accept user-supplied attributes processed by shortcode_args_to_html_attrs().
You are affected if the Animate Your Content plugin is installed with version 1.0.0 or lower AND the shortcode_args_to_html_attrs() function lacks esc_attr() escaping on attribute values before HTML output.
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 shortcode_args_to_html_attrs() function to apply esc_attr() to all user-supplied attributes before outputting them into HTML. Consider upgrading to a patched version if available, or implement the fix and test thoroughly.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-8872 — 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-2026-8872 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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