The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment'
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.2 High.
Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 10:50 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (Wordfence) | CVSS 3.1 | 7.2 |
|---|
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 31 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| comesioRelevanssi – A Better Search | Affected
| Fixed in– |
AI-suggested
Since the vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 4.28.5, users should upgrade to a fixed version if available. If no fixed version is confirmed, users should consider disabling comment indexing and comment highlighting features to mitigate the risk. Monitor the vendor advisory for official remediation guidance and apply updates promptly once released.
Description
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in all versions up to and including 4.28.5. This vulnerability arises from insufficient input sanitization and output escaping of the 'comment' parameter. Exploitation requires that the site has both comment indexing and comment highlighting enabled. An unauthenticated attacker can inject malicious scripts that execute when a user visits a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink with the highlight query parameter.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116522 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/msaari/relevanssi/commit/b0324957b27e2dfc2aa116c96dcf578fbec9e0e5 (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/common.php (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/excerpts-highlights.php (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/excerpts-highlights.php (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/excerpts-highlights.php (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/init.php (opens in a new tab)
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&new=3767703%40relevanssi%2Ftags%2F4.28.6&old=3761637%40relevanssi%2Ftags%2F4.28.5 (opens in a new tab)
- wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/442403ae-9011-4373-a363-e98e07ec7e9b?source=cve (opens in a new tab)