CVE-2026-24355 identifies a stored Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Houzez Theme - Functionality plugin developed by favethemes, affecting all versions up to and including 4.2.6. This vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of user-supplied input during web page generation, allowing malicious scripts to be injected and stored within the application. When other users access the affected pages, the malicious payload executes in their browsers, potentially compromising session tokens, cookies, or enabling unauthorized actions within the context of the victim's privileges. The vulnerability requires an attacker to have low-level privileges (PR:L) and some user interaction (UI:R), such as convincing a user to visit a crafted page. The attack vector is network-based (AV:N), with low attack complexity (AC:L), and the scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. The confidentiality and integrity impacts are low, with no impact on availability. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches are linked yet. The vulnerability primarily affects WordPress sites using the Houzez theme, which is popular in real estate and property listing websites. The issue underscores the importance of secure input validation and output encoding in web applications, especially in widely used CMS plugins and themes.

For European organizations, particularly those operating real estate or property listing websites using the Houzez WordPress theme, this vulnerability poses a risk of session hijacking, data theft, and unauthorized actions performed under the guise of legitimate users. Attackers exploiting this stored XSS could steal sensitive user information, including login credentials or personal data, leading to reputational damage and potential regulatory penalties under GDPR. While the vulnerability does not affect system availability, the compromise of user accounts or administrative privileges could lead to further exploitation or lateral movement within the organization’s web infrastructure. Given the medium severity and the requirement for low privileges to exploit, attackers could leverage this vulnerability as a foothold for more extensive attacks. The lack of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation, but organizations must act promptly to prevent exploitation.

European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Monitor for and apply updates or patches from favethemes as soon as they become available to address CVE-2026-24355. 2) In the absence of patches, restrict user input fields in the Houzez theme to disallow or sanitize HTML and JavaScript content rigorously, using server-side validation and output encoding libraries. 3) Deploy Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with robust XSS detection and prevention rules tailored to WordPress environments to block malicious payloads before they reach the application. 4) Conduct thorough security audits of all installed WordPress themes and plugins, removing or replacing those that are outdated or unsupported. 5) Educate site administrators and users about the risks of clicking unknown links or interacting with untrusted content to reduce user interaction risks. 6) Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict the execution of unauthorized scripts on web pages. 7) Regularly back up website data and configurations to enable quick recovery in case of compromise.