CVE-2026-4142

CVE-2026-4142 is a medium-severity vulnerability with a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.4. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-79.

Key facts

Description

The Sentence To SEO (keywords, description and tags) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'Permanent keywords' field in all versions up to and including 1.0. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. The plugin reads user input via filter_input_array(INPUT_POST) which applies no HTML sanitization (FILTER_DEFAULT), stores it unsanitized to the WordPress options table via update_option(), and then outputs the stored value directly into a textarea element without any escaping using PHP short echo tags (<?= ?>). An attacker can break out of the textarea element using a closing </textarea> tag and inject arbitrary HTML/JavaScript. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses the plugin's settings page.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-4142?
The Sentence To SEO (keywords, description and tags) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'Permanent keywords' field in all versions up to and including 1.0. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. The plugin reads user input via filter_input_array(INPUT_POST) which applies no HTML sanitization (FILTER_DEFAULT), stores it unsanitized to the WordPress options table via update_option(), and then outputs the stored value directly into a textarea element without any escaping using PHP short echo tags (<?= ?>). An attacker can break out of the textarea element using a closing </textarea> tag and inject arbitrary HTML/JavaScript. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses the plugin's settings page.
How severe is CVE-2026-4142?
CVE-2026-4142 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.4, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires high privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity low, and availability none.
Is CVE-2026-4142 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (25th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How do I fix CVE-2026-4142?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
Does CVE-2026-4142 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2026-4142 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2026-24684.
When was CVE-2026-4142 published?
CVE-2026-4142 was published on 2026-04-22 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Other CWE-79 (Cross-site Scripting (XSS)) vulnerabilities

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