CVE-2026-1754
📋 TL;DR
The personal-authors-category WordPress plugin contains a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts via URL parameters. This affects all WordPress sites using plugin versions up to 0.3. Attackers can exploit this by tricking users into clicking specially crafted links.
💻 Affected Systems
- WordPress personal-authors-category plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, or deliver malware payloads.
Likely Case
Attackers will use this for session hijacking, credential theft, or redirecting users to phishing pages.
If Mitigated
With proper web application firewalls and security headers, the impact is limited to individual user sessions rather than server compromise.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (clicking a link) but is trivial to craft.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.4 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/personal-authors-category
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'personal-authors-category' and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify version is 0.4 or higher.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allTemporarily deactivate the plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate personal-authors-category
Implement Content Security Policy
allAdd CSP headers to prevent script execution from untrusted sources
Add to .htaccess: Header set Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'"
Add to nginx config: add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'";
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block XSS payloads in URLs
- Restrict plugin access to authenticated users only using .htaccess or nginx rules
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for personal-authors-category version 0.3 or lowerCheck Version:
wp plugin list --name=personal-authors-category --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 0.4 or higher in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual URL parameters containing script tags or JavaScript code
- Multiple 404 or 400 errors with suspicious parameters
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with script tags in URL parameters
- Referrer headers containing malicious scripts
SIEM Query:
source="web_access.log" AND (url="*<script*" OR url="*javascript:*" OR url="*onerror=*" OR url="*onload=*")🔗 References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/personal-authors-category/trunk/personal-authors-category.php#L169
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/personal-authors-category/trunk/personal-authors-category.php#L233
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/6f57d5ec-bc2d-4dc4-b1b2-c5919986d198?source=cve
