Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild High confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2026-93485

WordPress Core <= 7.1 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability

Automattic / WordPress · 7.1

Watch CVE-2026-93485 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 7.1 · High
Confidence
High
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
0.4%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2026-93485 is an unauthenticated WordPress Core <= 7.1 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Automattic...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is high. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Automattic / WordPress 7.1.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

WordPress Core <= 7.1 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Automattic WordPress wordpress allows DOM-Based XSS.This issue affects WordPress: from n/a through 7.1.

Automattic Affected
WordPress wordpress
7.1 Through 7.0.4 Through 6.9.7 Through 6.8.8 Through 6.7.7 Through 6.6.7 Through 6.5.10 Through 6.4.10 Through 6.3.10 Through 6.2.11 Through 6.1.12 Through 6.0.14 Through 5.9.16 Through 5.8.15 Through 5.7.17 Through 5.6.19 Through 5.5.20 Through 5.4.21 Through 5.3.23 Through 5.2.26 Through 5.1.24 Through 5.0.27 Through 4.9.31 Through 4.8.30 Through 4.7.35
Published
18 Sep 2026
Exploitation Reported
17 Oct 2026
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required

Tags

wordpress

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-93485
  • VDB Entry — patchstack.com patchstack.com · VDB Entry https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/wordpress/wordpress/vulnera...

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CVE

Recorded 17 Oct 2026

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 26 Sep 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CVE First 2026-10-17 08:40 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.1 High

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

0.4%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') CWE-79

Recent mention · The Hacker News

WordPress Comment2Shell Flaw Can Turn Anonymous Comment XSS Into RCE via Admin Session

Swati KhandelwalSep 22, 2026Vulnerability / Web Security A new flaw in WordPress core let an anonymous visitor leave a comment that planted a hidden script on the page. If a logged-in administrator later opened that page, the script could run code on the site's server....

Read full advisory

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

686f6c61/POC-WP-CORE-CVE-2026-93485

github · Created 2026-09-26 12:34:44 UTC · 0 stars · AI assessment 90%

Laboratorio pedagógico de CVE-2026-93485 (Comment2Shell): stored XSS no autenticado en WordPress core vía wpautop -> RCE, con demo del root cause auto-verificada, control 7.1.1 y la vía Post2Shell

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 08:40 UTC

    Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  2. 12:34 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  3. 06:00 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. 05:11 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2026-93485

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2026-93485",
  "confidence": "High",
  "cvss_score": 7.1,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.00375,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}