WordPress <= 6.9.1 — Cross-Site Scripting via Client-Side Template Override in Admin Area
72273368-042d-4ad4-9d1d-ca9c6db9cf3bPublished · Updated Action summary
Affected: ≤6.9.1Update to 6.8.4 or 6.9.2 or newer
Fixed versions are per release branch: update to the fix for the branch you run.
All remediation stepsOn this page3
Overview
- Advisory ID
- 72273368-042d-4ad4-9d1d-ca9c6db9cf3b
- Product
- WordPress wordpress
- Affected
- ≤6.9.1
- Fixed in
- 6.8.4, 6.9.2
- Weakness
- CWE-79 Cross-Site Scripting
- Required access
- Low-privilege account (e.g. subscriber)
- Published
- · updated
- Credit
- Asaf Mozes
- Affected≤ 6.9.1
- Patched in6.8.4 / 6.9.2
Update to 6.8.4 / 6.9.2 or newer.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:NWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:HAttack complexity- High
PR:LPrivileges required- Low
UI:RUser interaction- Required
S:CScope- Changed
C:LConfidentiality- Low
I:LIntegrity- Low
A:NAvailability- None
WordPress core is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting via client-side template overriding in the admin area in all versions up to and including 6.9.1. The wp.template() JavaScript function uses document.getElementById() to locate templates, which matches any HTML element by ID regardless of element type.
WordPress admin templates are intended to be <script type="text/html" id="tmpl-*"> elements, but getElementById also matches <div>, <img>, and other injected elements. If an attacker can inject a non-script element with a matching tmpl-* ID, the template content is overridden with attacker-controlled HTML, which is then compiled by Underscore.js _.template() with JavaScript execution support.
This is a conditional vulnerability that requires an existing HTML injection vector in the admin context.
Not sure which version you run? Run a passive check — it reads public files only.
Remediation & mitigations
- Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 6.8.4, 6.9.2
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
References & provenance
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Timeline
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 4.4
Record last updated
Sources & licenses
Sources & licenses
- Vulnerability data
- Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
- CVSS / CWE
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- VulnCrest content
- Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.