CVE-2026-118784: XSS (CVSS 6.4)

Description

The WPSpeed plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 2.6.10 This is due to a combination of two issues in the LightImages HTML optimizer: (1) Dispatcher::runOptimize() decides whether the current request is the site's home page by comparing only the URL path from REQUEST_URI against the path of the home URL, so on a plain-permalinks install the author archive URL /?author=<ID> is treated as the home page and the LightImages optimizer runs on it; and (2) LightImages::optimize() calls html_entity_decode() across the entire serialized DOMDocument output under the default-enabled img_processing_entity_decode setting, converting any entity-encoded markup present as plain text in the page (including WordPress's rendered author title) into live HTML. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to store entity-encoded markup in their own nickname/display_name through the normal profile endpoint and have that markup rehydrated into executing script when any logged-out visitor loads their author archive.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

6.4

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0030

Probability of exploitation

0.23%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-79 Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

References

Other References

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpspeed/tags/2.6.10/src/Core/LightImages.php#L628 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpspeed/tags/2.6.10/src/Core/Optimize.php#L152 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpspeed/tags/2.6.10/src/Dispatcher.php#L170 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3771695/wpspeed/trunk/src/Core/LightImages.php https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/47aa1a74-4189-4521-ba6e-e91a06b8f5a6?source=cve

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-118784? +

The WPSpeed plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 2.6.10 This is due to a combination of two issues in the LightImages HTML optimizer: (1) Dispatcher::runOptimize() decides whether the current request is the site's home page by comparing only the URL path from REQUEST_URI against the path of the home URL, so on a plain-permalinks install the author archive URL /?author=<ID> is treated as the home page and the LightImages optimizer runs on it; and (2) LightImages::optimize() calls html_entity_decode() across the entire serialized DOMDocument output under the default-enabled img_processing_entity_decode setting, converting any entity-encoded markup present as plain text in the page (including WordPress's rendered author title) into live HTML. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to store entity-encoded markup in their own nickname/display_name through the normal profile endpoint and have that markup rehydrated into executing script when any logged-out visitor loads their author archive. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.4 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-118784? +

CVE-2026-118784 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.4 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0030, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-118784? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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