CVE-2026-116522
Relevanssi <= 4.28.5 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content via Late Entity Decode
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Relevanssi <= 4.28.5 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content via Late Entity Decode
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
- Record
CVE-2026-116522- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-114599
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
- Record
EUVD-2026-114599- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-cqrq-24rf-5fg8
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site...
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
- Record
GHSA-cqrq-24rf-5fg8- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
- Record
CVE-2026-116522- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Relevanssi <= 4.28.5 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content via Late Entity Decode
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'comment' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 4.28.5 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires the site to have both the comment indexing and comment highlighting options enabled, and the payload only fires when a visitor reaches a singular page via a Relevanssi search-result permalink carrying the highlight query parameter.
- Record
CVE-2026-116522- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-04
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | OSV | |
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-116522 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.2) in Comesio Relevanssi – A Better Search, published October 31, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.25%, the 16th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/442403ae-9011-4373-a363-e98e07ec7e9b?source=cve
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.5/lib/excerpts-highlights.php
github.com/msaari/relevanssi/commit/b0324957b27e2dfc2aa116c96dcf578fbec9e0e5
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116522