CVE-2026-82229 in Social Login and Register Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/31/2026
Unauthenticated Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in WordPress Social Login and Register <= 7.8.2 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/31/2026
The vulnerability identified as an unauthenticated cross-site scripting flaw within the WordPress plugin Social Login and Register, specifically affecting versions up to 7.8.2, represents a significant security risk due to its lack of authentication requirements. This classification indicates that any user visiting the affected website can exploit this weakness without needing valid credentials or prior interaction with restricted administrative areas. The core technical issue stems from insufficient sanitization and validation of input data processed by the plugin's social login mechanisms. When users attempt to authenticate via third-party providers such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter, the application processes various parameters including redirect URLs and user profile information returned by these external identity providers. In vulnerable versions, specific fields within this flow are not adequately escaped before being rendered in the browser context, allowing an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript payloads directly into the page response.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which defines Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation commonly known as Cross-site Scripting. The attack vector typically involves crafting a specially designed URL or manipulating the state parameters passed during the OAuth handshake process. Because the social login flow often handles redirects and user data dynamically, an attacker can embed script tags within these fields. When the victim's browser processes this response, it executes the injected code in the context of the vulnerable website. This allows for session hijacking, where the attacker steals the authentication cookies or tokens of legitimate users, effectively impersonating them without knowing their passwords. It also facilitates phishing attacks by redirecting victims to malicious sites that mimic the login page, thereby harvesting credentials through social engineering techniques facilitated by the script execution.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its unauthenticated nature and broad applicability across WordPress installations using the affected plugin version. Since no authentication is required, automated scanning tools can easily identify vulnerable instances on a large scale, leading to widespread exploitation attempts. Successful exploitation compromises user confidentiality and integrity by allowing attackers to access sensitive account information, modify user profiles, or perform actions on behalf of victims. For site administrators, this poses a risk to the overall security posture of their WordPress environment, as compromised accounts can be used to upload malicious plugins, deface websites, or pivot into backend systems if privilege escalation is possible through other vectors. The persistence of such vulnerabilities in widely used plugins highlights the importance of rigorous input validation and output encoding practices in web application development.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve immediate remediation by updating the Social Login and Register plugin to a version greater than 7.8.2, where these input handling flaws have been addressed through proper sanitization functions provided by WordPress core APIs such as esc_html or wp_kses_post. For organizations unable to update immediately due to compatibility constraints with other plugins, temporary workarounds include implementing Web Application Firewall rules that detect and block common XSS payloads in query parameters related to social login flows. Additionally, enforcing strict Content Security Policy headers can help mitigate the impact of successful injection attempts by restricting the sources from which scripts are allowed to execute. Regular security audits and penetration testing focused on authentication modules are recommended to ensure ongoing resilience against similar input validation weaknesses across all integrated services.