CVE-2026-102389

Broken Link Checker <= 2.4.14.1 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary HTML Attribute Injection

2026-10-13 00:00
changsheng

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.4.15
Affected Plugin
Broken Link Checker
Affected Version
<= 2.4.14.1
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation
CVE
CVE-2026-102389
View all Broken Link Checker vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-102389 is a medium-severity Improper Input Validation vulnerability in the Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.4.14.1. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.4.15; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2026, reported by changsheng.

Vulnerability Overview

The Broken Link Checker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.14.1. This is due to insufficient output escaping when rebuilding anchor tags in the broken-link highlighting filter, allowing a URL containing a quote character to close the href attribute and inject additional markup. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary HTML attributes or event handlers into pages that display broken-link-highlighted content, which will execute whenever a user views an affected page.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-20: Improper Input Validation

Reaching this weakness in Broken Link Checker <= 2.4.14.1 takes no account at all. Improper input validation means the application accepts input without confirming it has the form, type or range the code downstream assumes.

The concrete impact depends on where the unvalidated value lands, which is why records in this class range from cosmetic bugs to full compromise. For Broken Link Checker the fix is 2.4.15: builds <= 2.4.14.1 are affected, anything from 2.4.15 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.4.15, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Broken Link Checker 2.4.15 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-102389https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e7fe9fdf-02b1-4dfb-8d5e-bb64fe4c86behttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-102389

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C