CVE-2026-118057

Shield Security <= 22.3.2 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Request Path (REQUEST_URI) in Traffic Log

2026-10-30 18:55
Kevin Whelan

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 22.3.4
Affected Plugin
Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning
Affected Version
<= 22.3.2
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation
CVE
CVE-2026-118057
View all Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-118057 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation vulnerability in the Shield Security WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 22.3.2. 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 22.3.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2026, reported by Kevin Whelan.

Vulnerability Overview

The Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'REQUEST_URI' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 22.3.2 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 hidden 'path' column in ForTraffic.php lacks a client-side render function, so DataTables builds its cell via innerHTML, causing stored HTML in the path value to be parsed into live DOM nodes; a prior partial fix in version 18.5.8 added esc_html() only to the visible 'page' column, leaving the hidden 'path' field unescaped and exploitable through version 22.2.6.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation

Shield Security <= 22.3.2 carries this weakness at REQUEST_URI, and reaching it 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 Shield Security the fix is 22.3.4: builds <= 22.3.2 are affected, anything from 22.3.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 22.3.4, 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: Shield Security 22.3.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-118057https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3781bf74-541a-4dfb-a058-1a9ea6aa970ehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118057

Related records

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