xmlrpc attacks blocker <= 1.0 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'X-Forwarded-For'
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- xmlrpc attacks blocker
- Affected Version
<= 1.0- CVSS
- 6.1Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2026-2502
At a glance
CVE-2026-2502 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the xmlrpc attacks blocker WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed February 2026, reported by Nabil Irawan.
Vulnerability Overview
The xmlrpc attacks blocker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 1.0, via the 'X-Forwarded-For' HTTP header. This is due to the plugin trusting and logging attacker-controlled IP header data and rendering debug log entries without output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute when an administrator views the debug log 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 privileges on the target site.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
xmlrpc attacks blocker <= 1.0 carries this weakness at X-Forwarded-For, 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for xmlrpc attacks blocker yet, so installs running <= 1.0 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?
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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C