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CVE-2026-73628· NVD / CVE Program· CNA VulnCheck

Serendipity 2.3.5 Reflected XSS via search clean-URL route

Serendipity versions >= 2.3.5 and <= 2.6.0 contain a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability in the search clean-URL route (/search/<term>). In include/functions_routing.inc.php serveSearch(), the sanitisation pipeline runs urldecode() after HTML-encoding, so a single URL-encoded HTML payload survives strip_tags() and htmlspecialchars() and is then decoded back into live HTML in the page. A crafted search link can execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser. Fixed in 2.6.1.

MediumCVSS 5.3 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Aug 13, 2026
Updated
Sep 30, 2026
EPSS
0.3% · 16th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

21

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.3%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
proof of concept
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · VulnCheck
5.3
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (VulnCheck). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • s9y Serendipity

    • 2.3.5 and later · up to and including 2.6.0affected · semver

Same product

s9y: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2020-10964Serendipity before 2.3.4 on Windows allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code because the filename of a renamed file may end with a
    40Plan
  • CVE-2011-1134Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in Xinha, as included in the Serendipity package before 1.5.5, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code
    40Plan
  • CVE-2016-10752serendipity_moveMediaDirectory in Serendipity 2.0.3 allows remote attackers to upload and execute arbitrary PHP code because it mishandles a
    40Plan
  • CVE-2016-10082include/functions_installer.inc.php in Serendipity through 2.0.5 is vulnerable to File Inclusion and a possible Code Execution attack during
    40Plan
  • CVE-2005-1452Serendipity before 0.8 allows Chief users to "hide plugins installed by other users."
    40Plan
  • CVE-2005-1449Unknown vulnerability in serendipity_config_local.inc.php for Serendipity before 0.8 has unknown impact.
    40Plan

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
s9y Serendipity2.6.1 · descriptionVendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

  • CVE-2023-53932239 days apartSerendipity 2.4.0 Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Admin Entry Creation
    20Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
P
Scope
X

Weakness class (CWE)

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

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Root cause

User content is inserted into the page as HTML. The browser interprets the content as code rather than data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-79 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
commentEl.innerHTML = comment.body;

Fixed

ts
commentEl.textContent = comment.body;

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records