Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Stored XSS requires victim to visit the injected page (UI:R); Contributor authentication required (PR:L); scope change confirmed as payload crosses into victim browser context.
Primary rating from Vendor (wordfence).
CVSS VectorVendor: wordfence
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
The Sudoku Shortcode plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'background' parameter in the 'sudoku-sc' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.0 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. 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.
AnalysisAI
Stored Cross-Site Scripting in the Sudoku Shortcode WordPress plugin (all versions through 1.0.0) allows authenticated Contributors to inject persistent malicious scripts via the unsanitized 'background' parameter of the 'sudoku-sc' shortcode. Once injected into a page or post, the payload executes in the browser of every subsequent visitor, including administrators, enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized administrative actions. No public exploit code or CISA KEV listing has been identified at time of analysis, though Wordfence has catalogued the vulnerability in their threat intelligence database.
Technical ContextAI
The vulnerability resides in the Sudoku Shortcode WordPress plugin's shortcode handler, specifically at lines 63 and 73 of sudoku-shortcode.php, where the 'background' parameter is passed directly into rendered HTML output without adequate input sanitization or output escaping. CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation) describes this root cause class: user-controlled input is embedded in HTML context and reflected back to browsers without encoding, allowing injection of executable JavaScript. WordPress shortcodes are processed server-side and their output embedded in page content, meaning injected payloads persist in the database and are served to all visitors of the affected page. The S:C (Scope Changed) in the CVSS vector confirms the vulnerability crosses from the plugin execution context into the victim's browser security context.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patched version is independently confirmed from the available data; the WordPress plugin trac references include trunk code which may reflect in-development fixes but no tagged release has been confirmed. Until a patched version is released and verified, site administrators should deactivate and remove the Sudoku Shortcode plugin entirely. As a compensating control, restrict the Contributor role from using shortcodes by employing a capability-limiting plugin (e.g., restricting shortcode execution to Editor and above), noting that this affects all shortcode functionality for Contributors across the site. Alternatively, use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing script-like content in the 'background' shortcode parameter, though this may cause false positives on legitimate styling values. The Wordfence threat intelligence advisory is available at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/99e4b38c-f81d-4578-a623-ea62495e934d for additional remediation guidance as it becomes available.
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Same weakness CWE-79 – Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-42801
GHSA-ffm3-68jx-q7h9