# CVE-2021-42361: Contact Form Email <= 1.3.24 Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

> Administrators can inject arbitrary web scripts via the name parameter in the Contact Form Email plugin, affecting sites with unfiltered_html disabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 14 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j24g-fmpx-gq7m

## What is CVE-2021-42361?

CVE-2021-42361 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Contact Form Email, published on 17 Nov 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Contact Form Email WordPress plugin is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting due to insufficient input validation and escaping via the name parameter found in the ~/trunk/cp-admin-int-list.inc.php file which allowed attackers with administrative user access to inject arbitrary web scripts, in versions up to and including 1.3.24. This affects multi-site installations where unfiltered_html is disabled for administrators, and sites where unfiltered_html is disabled.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-42361?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Codepeople Contact Form Email.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-42361?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-42361 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-42361 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Contact Form Email

- [CVE-2018-20964](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20964/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-5955](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5955/): Contact Form Email < 1.3.44 - Editor+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2018-20963](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20963/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2019-9646](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9646/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2025-24727](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24727/): WordPress Contact Form to Email Plugin <= 1.3.52 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-42361 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-42361 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Contact Form Email, published on 17 Nov 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Contact Form Email. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42361/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42361/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-42361
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-42361
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-42361

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42361/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.