PPWP – Password Protect Pages <= 1.9.21 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode Attributes
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- PPWP – Password Protect Pages
- Affected Version
<= 1.9.21- CVSS
- 6.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2026-3639
At a glance
CVE-2026-3639 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the PPWP WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.9.21. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Muhammad Yudha - DJ.
Vulnerability Overview
The PPWP – Password Protect Pages plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's `ppwp` shortcode attributes in all versions up to, and including, 1.9.21 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. 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.
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 interaction from a victim user.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in PPWP <= 1.9.21 takes an account at Contributor level or above. 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for PPWP yet, so installs running <= 1.9.21 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in PPWP – Password Protect Pages
- 5.3CVE-2024-11280: PPWP Content Restriction Bypass to Info Exposure
CVE-2024-11280 - 5.3CVE-2024-0620: PPWP Protection Mechanism Bypass
CVE-2024-0620 - 4.3CVE-2026-57634: PPWP – Password Protect Pages <= 1.9.19 IDOR
CVE-2026-57634 - 4.3CVE-2026-32562: PPWP – Password Protect Pages Missing Authorization
CVE-2026-32562 - 4.3CVE-2025-5998: PPWP – Password Protect Pages Content Exposure
CVE-2025-5998
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C