CVE-2026-86612

Ninja Tables <= 5.2.16 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Shortcode Execution

2026-09-21 00:00
Jakub Herman

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.2.17
Affected Plugin
Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder
Affected Version
<= 5.2.16
CVSS
6.5Medium
Weakness type
CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CVE
CVE-2026-86612
View all Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-86612 is a medium-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the Ninja Tables WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.2.16. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.2.17; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2026, reported by Jakub Herman.

Vulnerability Overview

The Ninja Tables plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Shortcode Execution in all versions up to, and including, 5.2.16. This is due to the use of do_shortcode() on user supplied input. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes registered on the site. The impact depends on which shortcodes the site has registered, so a site running a plugin whose shortcodes expose data or perform actions is affected more severely.

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-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Ninja Tables <= 5.2.16 carries this weakness at do_shortcode(), and reaching it takes no account at all. Code injection means input from a request reaches a language construct that evaluates code, so the attacker's text is executed rather than treated as data.

The injected code runs with the web server's privileges, giving the attacker the same access to the database and filesystem as WordPress itself. For Ninja Tables the fix is 5.2.17: builds <= 5.2.16 are affected, anything from 5.2.17 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.2.17, 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. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Ninja Tables 5.2.17 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Login Security

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-86612https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/9666ed12-bc1c-4bd3-bb56-39b7d6511100https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-86612

Related records

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