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Meow Gallery EUVDEUVD-2026-114217

| CVE-2026-9239 MEDIUM
Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79)
2026-10-30 Wordfence GHSA-93vw-w9vm-pp4x
6.4
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Wordfence
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Log in with author-level WordPress access
  2. Delivery
    Set image alt text with double-quote attribute breakout
  3. Exploit
    Render gallery item as a link (link_href set)
  4. Execution
    Stored payload served in page aria-label
  5. Impact
    onclick script executes in visitor/admin browser

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Output encoding, context-aware escaping
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Execution

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an authenticated WordPress account with author-level capability or higher (PR:L), and the specific vulnerable code path is only reachable when a gallery item is rendered as a link (link_href is non-empty) - galleries whose items are not links are not affected. The injection mechanism relies on WordPress's sanitize_text_field() stripping angle-bracketed tags but preserving double quotes, letting the attacker break out of the aria-label attribute and inject event-handler attributes such as onclick. Execution additionally depends on a victim loading and interacting with the injected page. These factors (trusted-tier authentication, non-default link rendering, and victim interaction) meaningfully limit real-world exploitation despite the network attack vector.

Impact

This is a moderate-severity, authenticated stored XSS (CWE-79). The CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N scores 6.4 and signals network-reachable, low-complexity exploitation, but PR:L is the decisive limiter: the attacker must already hold author-level access or higher on the target WordPress site, which substantially narrows the viable attacker population to trusted/contributor-tier accounts or compromised ones. The scope change (S:C) and C:L/I:L reflect that the injected script executes in the browser context of other users (potentially administrators) rather than impacting the server directly. No CISA KEV listing is present in the input and no EPSS score was provided, so there is no signal of active or probable exploitation - treat the absence of EPSS/KEV as missing data, not as evidence of safety. The vuln.today priority is 'this_month', consistent with a real but non-emergency issue. Net assessment: a genuine privilege-escalation-via-XSS risk on multi-author sites, but not an unauthenticated mass-exploitation threat; prioritize patching where untrusted authors exist, lower urgency on single-admin sites.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker holding an author-level account (or one obtained through a compromised/registered contributor) on a site running Meow Gallery <=5.5.1 sets an image's alt text to a payload using double quotes to break out of the aria-label attribute and add an onclick handler, then configures that gallery item to render as a link. When an administrator or other visitor opens and interacts with the page, the injected script runs in their browser session, enabling session/cookie theft or admin actions. No public exploit was identified at time of analysis.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 30, 2026

Stored cross-site scripting in the Meow Gallery WordPress plugin (all versions up to and including 5.5.1) lets an authenticated author-level user inject script through attachment alt text that is emitted into an aria-label attribute. Because WordPress's sanitize_text_field() strips angle-bracketed tags but leaves double quotes intact, an attacker can break out of the aria-label context and add event-handler attributes such as onclick that fire when a visitor views the injected gallery page. The vulnerable sink is only reached when gallery items are rendered as links (a non-empty link_href), and a patch appears in the 5.5.1-to-5.5.2 changeset; no public exploit code or active exploitation was identified at time of analysis, and the priority label is this_month rather than immediate action.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: Meow Gallery 5.5.2, per the plugin repository changeset diffing tag 5.5.1 against tag 5.5.2; update the plugin to that version or later through the WordPress admin or WP-CLI and confirm the installed version afterwards. Because the vulnerable sink requires link rendering, sites that cannot update immediately can reduce exposure by avoiding gallery configurations that output link_href (rendering items unlinked), accepting the loss of click-through behavior, and by reviewing author-and-above accounts for untrusted users since the required privilege level is author. Also audit existing gallery attachment alt text for stray quote characters or event-handler fragments left over from prior injections, as upgrading closes the sink but does not clean already-stored payloads. The Wordfence advisory at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/49afa739-83f0-4ad7-9e5e-d600f293b938?source=cve and the changeset at https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=/meow-gallery/tags/5.5.1&new_path=/meow-gallery/tags/5.5.2 should be referenced when planning the upgrade.

Affected VersionsENISA

Meow Gallery 0 ≤5.5.1

Affected Packages

euvd meow_gallery no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The flaw is a classic CWE-79 stored cross-site scripting issue rooted in insufficient input sanitization paired with missing output escaping in the Meow Gallery plugin's front-end rendering code (referenced locations are classes/core.php lines 465 and 469 and the hook registered in classes/run.php line 12 across tags 5.4.5 and 5.4.9). The plugin takes the attachment alt text and places it inside an HTML aria-label attribute of an anchor element rather than escaping it with attribute-aware functions such as esc_attr(). WordPress's sanitize_text_field() is applied to the value, and while it removes tag-like sequences it does not neutralize double quotes, so an attacker who controls the alt text can close the aria-label attribute and append arbitrary attributes, event handlers like onclick being the example given. The sink is conditional: the markup is only produced when a gallery item is rendered as a link, i.e. when link_href is non-empty, which is a non-default presentation choice, so galleries whose items are not links do not expose the vulnerable code path. None of the supplied sources describe the trigger beyond this rendering condition, and no memory-safety, timing or race characteristics are involved - the severity metrics (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C) reflect a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring a low-privileged authenticated account and producing a scope change into the victim's browser session.

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Severity by source

Vendor (Wordfence) PRIMARY 6.4 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
vuln.today AI 6.4 MEDIUM

Author-level account is required (PR:L); injection is network-reachable and low-complexity; stored script executes in another user's browser context so scope changes (S:C) with limited confidentiality/integrity impact and no availability impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (Wordfence).

CVSS VectorVendor: Wordfence

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

The Meow Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Attachment Alt Text (aria-label attribute) in all versions up to, and including, 5.5.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. The vulnerable code path is only reachable when a gallery item is rendered as a link (i.e., link_href is non-empty), and exploitation relies on the fact that WordPress's sanitize_text_field() strips angle-bracketed tags but preserves double quotes, allowing an attacker to break out of the aria-label attribute context and inject event-handler attributes such as onclick.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 75% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
WordPress gallery plugin with a moderate install base, not ubiquitous
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Cross-Site Scripting occurs when an application accepts untrusted data and sends it to a web browser without proper validation or encoding.

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