Description

Unauthenticated Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in Ultimate Dashboard <= 3.11.2 versions.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.1",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-18T15:16:57.290Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-18T15:16:57.290Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An unauthenticated Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability has been identified in the Ultimate Dashboard plugin in versions up to and including 3.11.2. This security flaw enables remote, unauthenticated threat actors to inject malicious JavaScript payloads into vulnerable parameters processed by the application. When rendered within the context of a victim's browser session, the injected script executes without user consent. The primary impact of this vulnerability includes session hijacking, unauthorized access to sensitive application data, redirection to malicious destinations, and unauthorized execution of administrative actions if triggered by a privileged user. The affected product is the Ultimate Dashboard plugin for WordPress, impacting all installations running version 3.11.2 or prior. The risk implications are severe due to the lack of authentication requirements, allowing any external attacker over the network to initiate exploitation against target websites utilizing the vulnerable plugin. Exploitation requires no prior privileges or interaction from authenticated administrators to deliver the initial payload vector, relying entirely on the application's failure to properly sanitize and encode user-supplied input before rendering it in the Document Object Model (DOM).",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input sanitization and output encoding within the Ultimate Dashboard plugin <= 3.11.2. The affected component fails to adequately validate and neutralize user-supplied parameters processed during HTTP requests, allowing arbitrary script insertion. Because the vulnerability is unauthenticated, the attack vector is exposed directly via the network without requiring valid user credentials or session tokens.\nThe exploitation method relies on injecting malicious JavaScript payloads into susceptible input vectors handled by the plugin. When an unsuspecting user or administrator accesses the compromised endpoint containing the unescaped payload, the web browser parses and executes the injected script within the security context of the victim's session.\nThe step-by-step attack flow proceeds as follows: First, the attacker crafts a malicious HTTP request containing a specially formulated XSS payload targeted at a vulnerable parameter within the Ultimate Dashboard plugin. Second, the attacker transmits this request over the network to the target WordPress installation. Third, the plugin processes the input and stores or reflects it improperly without applying adequate contextual output encoding. Fourth, when a victim accesses the affected page or administrative dashboard view containing the payload, the web application renders the malicious script directly into the response HTML. Finally, the victim's browser executes the script, granting the attacker the ability to perform actions on behalf of the user, access session cookies, or manipulate the DOM to conduct further client-side attacks.\nThe post-exploitation impact depends on the privileges of the user who executes the payload. If an administrator views the rendered XSS payload, the attacker can leverage the session to create new administrative accounts, install malicious plugins, or modify core site configurations. Network exposure is external, requiring HTTP/HTTPS access to the target web application. Affected versions strictly comprise Ultimate Dashboard 3.11.2 and all prior iterations containing the vulnerable codebase."
}