CVE-2026-66578 in PropertyHive Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/17/2026
Contributor Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in PropertyHive <= 2.2.6 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/17/2026
The vulnerability identified as Contributor Cross-Site Scripting within the PropertyHive plugin for WordPress, affecting versions up to and including 2.2.6, represents a significant security risk stemming from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms. This flaw allows attackers with contributor-level or lower privileges on a compromised WordPress installation to inject malicious client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The root cause lies in the application's failure to properly sanitize user-supplied data before rendering it within the browser context, specifically targeting areas where contributors can input content that is subsequently displayed without adequate encoding. This type of vulnerability exploits the trust a user has in a website, allowing an attacker to bypass standard security controls such as the same-origin policy, which normally prevents malicious scripts from executing on domains other than the one serving the original resource.
From a technical perspective, this issue aligns with CWE-79, known as Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, commonly referred to as Cross-Site Scripting or XSS. The vulnerability likely exists in fields such as contributor profiles, property descriptions edited by contributors, or comment sections where user input is directly reflected into the HTML output without applying appropriate encoding functions like htmlspecialchars or wp_kses_post within the WordPress framework. When a victim with higher privileges, such as an administrator or editor, views the affected page containing the injected script, the malicious code executes in their browser session under the context of the vulnerable website. This execution environment grants the attacker access to sensitive information stored in cookies, local storage, or session tokens associated with that user's account on the WordPress site.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its potential for privilege escalation and data theft. An attacker can craft a phishing payload within the script to steal administrative credentials by exfiltrating cookie data containing authentication tokens to an external server controlled by the adversary. Furthermore, the attacker could manipulate the DOM (Document Object Model) to deface the website's appearance or redirect users to malicious sites designed for further exploitation, such as credential harvesting pages or malware distribution portals. In a multi-user environment typical of real estate platforms using PropertyHive, this vulnerability undermines the integrity and confidentiality of the system, potentially leading to unauthorized changes in property listings, client data breaches, and reputational damage for the organization hosting the site.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term security hardening. The primary action is to upgrade the PropertyHive plugin to version 2.2.7 or later, where developers have addressed these input validation flaws by implementing strict output encoding and sanitization protocols consistent with WordPress coding standards. For sites unable to update immediately due to compatibility concerns, a temporary workaround involves restricting contributor-level access if possible, although this may not be feasible for all business models. Additionally, deploying a Web Application Firewall can help mitigate the risk by filtering out malicious payloads before they reach the application logic. Security teams should also enforce Content Security Policy headers to restrict script execution sources and conduct regular code reviews focusing on data flow from user inputs to HTML outputs to prevent similar injection vulnerabilities in future development cycles.