CVE-2026-5721

wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin <= 6.5.0.4 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via CSV/Excel Data Import

2026-04-20 09:28

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 6.5.0.5
Affected Plugin: wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin
Affected Version: <= 6.5.0.4
CVSS: 4.7Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2026-5721

View all wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-5721 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the wpDataTables WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 6.5.0.4. It carries a CVSS score of 4.7 (reachable over the network). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 6.5.0.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2026, reported by Lio.

Vulnerability Overview

The wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in all versions up to, and including, 6.5.0.4. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the prepareCellOutput() method of the LinkWDTColumn, ImageWDTColumn, and EmailWDTColumn classes. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page, given that they can trick an Administrator into importing data from an attacker-controlled source and the affected column types (Link, Image, or Email) are configured.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no privileges on the target site.

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

wpDataTables <= 6.5.0.4 carries this weakness at prepareCellOutput(), 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 wpDataTables the fix is 6.5.0.5: builds <= 6.5.0.4 are affected, anything from 6.5.0.5 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.5.0.5, 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: wpDataTables 6.5.0.5 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-2026-5721 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/8db736fb-cd6c-4a52-9dd3-eefd0a8d9267 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-5721

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin

CVSS Vector

4.7

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityHigh
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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