CVE-2021-36889

tarteaucitron.js – Cookies legislation & GDPR (WordPress plugin) <= 1.6 - Cross-Site Scripting

2021-12-17 14:06

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.6.1
Affected Plugin: tarteaucitron.io
Affected Version: <= 1.6
CVSS: 3.4Low
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2021-36889

View all tarteaucitron.io vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-36889 is a low-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the tarteaucitron.io WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 3.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 1.6.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by R3N0.

Vulnerability Overview

Multiple Stored Authenticated Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities were discovered in tarteaucitron.js – Cookies legislation & GDPR WordPress plugin (versions <= 1.6).

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in tarteaucitron.io <= 1.6 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 tarteaucitron.io the fix is 1.6.1: builds <= 1.6 are affected, anything from 1.6.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.6.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to tarteaucitron.io: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: tarteaucitron.io 1.6.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-36889 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a832cd41-c7be-43b5-bee3-4489170cad79 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-36889

Related records

Same weakness class

6.4CVE-2025-4955: tarteaucitron.io <= 1.9.4 Stored Cross-Site ScriptingCVE-2025-4955

Other vulnerabilities in tarteaucitron.io

8.8CVE-2021-36887: tarteaucitron.js CSRF to Cross-Site ScriptingCVE-2021-36887

CVSS Vector

3.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredHigh
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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