CVE-2026-19794 in WP-Stats Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/14/2026
The WP-Stats plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in all versions up to, and including, 2.56 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.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/14/2026
The WP-Stats plugin vulnerability represents a critical stored cross-site scripting flaw that has persisted across all versions up to and including 256, creating a significant security risk for WordPress installations. This vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization mechanisms and insufficient output escaping practices within the plugin's codebase, allowing malicious actors to inject persistent script payloads into the application's data handling processes. The flaw operates at the core of web application security principles where user-supplied data is not properly validated or escaped before being rendered in web pages, creating an attack surface that can be exploited by unauthenticated threat actors without requiring any privileged access or authentication credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability places it firmly within the scope of CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which specifically addresses the failure to properly escape or sanitize user-controllable data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web content. This weakness enables attackers to inject malicious scripts that persist in the application's database or storage mechanisms, ensuring that whenever legitimate users access pages containing the injected content, their browsers execute the malicious code within their security context. The stored nature of this XSS vulnerability means that the malicious payloads remain embedded in the system and can affect multiple users over time rather than requiring repeated exploitation attempts for each individual user.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates a persistent threat vector that can be leveraged for various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and redirection to malicious domains. The unauthenticated nature of the attack means that any visitor to affected WordPress sites can potentially become compromised, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where administrators have limited control over user access or where the plugin is widely deployed across multiple sites. Attackers can craft malicious scripts that steal cookies, capture user input, redirect users to phishing sites, or even execute more sophisticated attacks such as those leveraging the attacker's ability to manipulate session tokens through cross-site scripting techniques.
The exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the category of Initial Access and Execution, where adversaries leverage web application vulnerabilities to establish footholds within target environments. The stored XSS capability specifically maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.001 - Phishing for Information, as attackers can craft malicious payloads that appear legitimate to end users while simultaneously compromising their browsers and potentially gaining access to sensitive data or system resources. Organizations running affected versions of the WP-Stats plugin face significant risk of user compromise, data breaches, and potential lateral movement within their network infrastructure if the vulnerability is exploited successfully.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate remediation through plugin version updates to the latest secure release, which should include proper input validation and output escaping mechanisms. Security administrators should implement additional defensive measures such as web application firewalls that can detect and block common XSS payload patterns, regular security scanning of WordPress installations for vulnerable plugins, and comprehensive monitoring for suspicious script injection attempts. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide an additional layer of protection against malicious script execution even if the underlying vulnerability is not immediately patched. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their WordPress environments to identify other potentially vulnerable plugins or components that may present similar cross-site scripting risks, ensuring comprehensive protection against persistent web application threats.