CVE-2026-12098

PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry <= 11.16.8 - Authenticated (Author+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'embed' Episode Meta Field

2026-06-17 18:12
Mukhlis Amien

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 11.16.9
Affected Plugin
PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry
Affected Version
<= 11.16.8
CVSS
6.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2026-12098
View all PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-12098 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 11.16.8. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Author level or above. The issue is fixed in version 11.16.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2026, reported by Mukhlis Amien.

Vulnerability Overview

The PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'embed' Episode Meta Field in all versions up to, and including, 11.16.8 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. The embed value is stored via update_post_meta() rather than through WordPress core's post content pipeline, meaning kses-on-save filtering is never applied — even for Author-role users who would otherwise lack unfiltered_html — making this path unprotected by WordPress's standard role-based XSS mitigations.

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')

PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry <= 11.16.8 carries this weakness at embed, and reaching it takes an account at Author 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. For PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry the fix is 11.16.9: builds <= 11.16.8 are affected, anything from 11.16.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 11.16.9, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Author 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. None of that substitutes for the fix: PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry 11.16.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-12098https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7a74e4fb-15a9-4fc9-afa6-396b0f026615https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12098

Related records

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