CVE-2026-12938 Newsletters <= 4.15 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'target' Shortcode Attribute
Authenticated attackers with Contributor access can inject arbitrary scripts via the target shortcode attribute, leading to stored XSS execution on victim pages.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-12938?
CVE-2026-12938 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in contrid Newsletters, published on 29 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Newsletters Lite plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'target' attribute of the [newsletters_post] shortcode in versions up to and including 4.15. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the posts_single() function which propagates the attacker-controlled 'target' attribute into the global $wpml_target, and in the shortcode_posts() 'post_thumbnail' handler which concatenates $wpml_target into a target="..." HTML attribute without 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.
Weakness: CWE-79
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-12938?
How do I fix CVE-2026-12938?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-12938 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Escape output for the context it lands in and set a strict Content Security Policy. Upgrading the affected component is the real fix. More about Cross-site scripting.
Is CVE-2026-12938 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12938 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-qmcf-q538-935f.