CMB2 <= 2.13.1 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'textarea_code' Field
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.13.2
- Affected Plugin
- CMB2
- Affected Version
<= 2.13.1- CVSS
- 7.2High
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2026-102772
At a glance
CVE-2026-102772 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the CMB2 WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.13.1. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.13.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2026, reported by Kuba.
Vulnerability Overview
The CMB2 plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the '<textarea_code field id> (e.g. kl_code, kl_post_code)' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 2.13.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. The front-end save path requires only a CMB2 box nonce, which is emitted to all visitors including unauthenticated guests via a simple GET request, making the attack trivially reachable without any credentials on sites that expose a public CMB2 form writing a textarea_code field.
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-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in CMB2 <= 2.13.1 takes no account at all. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For CMB2 the fix is 2.13.2: builds <= 2.13.1 are affected, anything from 2.13.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.13.2, 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: CMB2 2.13.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
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