CVE-2026-100513 in CF7 Views Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
Contributor Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in CF7 Views – Complete Entry Management for Contact Form 7 <= 3.2.5 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The vulnerability identified as Contributor Cross-Site Scripting within the CF7 Views plugin, specifically affecting versions up to and including 3.2.5 of the complete entry management module for Contact Form 7, represents a significant security risk in WordPress environments that utilize this combination of plugins. This flaw stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms when handling user-supplied data submitted by contributors or other non-administrative users with elevated privileges but limited access levels. The core technical issue lies in the application's failure to properly sanitize HTML content before rendering it back to the browser, allowing malicious actors to inject executable JavaScript code into web pages viewed by administrators or other privileged users who manage form entries.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability is classified under CWE-79, which denotes Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation commonly known as Cross-Site Scripting. The attack vector typically involves an authenticated user with contributor-level access exploiting the entry management interface to submit forms containing malicious script payloads rather than legitimate data. When another user, such as a site administrator or editor, views these entries through the plugin's dashboard interface, the browser executes the injected scripts in the context of the victim's session. This execution occurs within the trusted domain of the WordPress administration area, bypassing same-origin policy restrictions and granting the attacker significant control over the client-side environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its potential for account takeover and data exfiltration. An attacker can leverage the executed JavaScript to steal administrative session cookies, effectively hijacking active sessions without needing valid credentials. This capability allows the malicious user to perform actions on behalf of high-privileged accounts, including modifying site settings, installing additional plugins with backdoors, or accessing sensitive database information stored within WordPress. Furthermore, because Contact Form 7 is widely used for collecting personal data such as names, emails, and phone numbers, an attacker could also harvest this personally identifiable information directly from the victim's browser session if they can trick a privileged user into viewing compromised entries.
This vulnerability aligns with several tactics in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly T1059 which covers Command and Scripting Interpreter execution via client-side scripts like JavaScript. It also relates to T1078 regarding Valid Accounts, as it requires initial authentication but exploits privilege escalation through session manipulation. The lack of proper output encoding means that even if input validation is partially implemented, the rendering engine fails to escape special characters such as angle brackets and quotes, which are essential for preventing script injection in HTML contexts.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term defensive coding practices. Users running affected versions should immediately update CF7 Views and Contact Form 7 to their latest stable releases where this issue has been patched by the developers. In addition to updating software, administrators should enforce strict role-based access control principles, ensuring that contributors do not have unnecessary permissions to manage or view all form entries if such functionality is not required for their specific workflow. Implementing a Web Application Firewall can provide an additional layer of defense by filtering out malicious payloads before they reach the application logic, although this should be viewed as a compensating control rather than a primary fix.
Developers and site maintainers must also prioritize secure coding standards that emphasize output encoding over input validation alone. By ensuring that all dynamic content is properly encoded according to its context within HTML documents, applications can neutralize script injection attempts effectively. Regular security audits and penetration testing of WordPress plugins are recommended to identify similar flaws in other components before they can be exploited by malicious actors seeking to compromise website integrity or steal sensitive user data from forms processed through these systems.