# CVE-2026-3618: Cross-site scripting in Columns by BestWebSoft – Additional Columns Plugin for Posts Pages and Widgets

> Authenticated attackers can inject arbitrary scripts via the shortcode id attribute, leading to stored XSS execution on victim pages.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 13 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5xc8-cv7x-vq3g

## What is CVE-2026-3618?

CVE-2026-3618 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in bestweblayout Columns by BestWebSoft – Additional Columns Plugin for Posts Pages and Widgets, published on 8 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Columns by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'id' shortcode attribute of the [print_clmns] shortcode in all versions up to and including 1.0.3. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the 'id' attribute. The shortcode receives the 'id' parameter via shortcode_atts() at line 596 and directly embeds it into HTML output at line 731 (in a div id attribute) and into inline CSS at lines 672-729 without any escaping or sanitization. While the SQL query uses %d to cast the value to an integer for database lookup, the original unsanitized string value of $id is still used in the HTML/CSS output. 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. The attack requires that at least one column exists in the plugin (created by an admin), as the SQL query must return results for the output branch to be reached.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-3618?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-3618?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-3618 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-3618 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-3618 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-3618 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-3618 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in bestweblayout Columns by BestWebSoft – Additional Columns Plugin for Posts Pages and Widgets, published on 8 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-3618 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: bestweblayout Columns by BestWebSoft – Additional Columns Plugin for Posts Pages and Widgets. 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-2026-3618/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-3618/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-3618
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-3618
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-3618

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-3618/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.