Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA WPScan

CVE-2021-24525: Shortcodes Ultimate < 5.10.2 - Contributor+ Stored XSS

MediumCVSS 5.4 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.62% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 50.3% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

The Shortcodes Ultimate WordPress plugin before 5.10.2 allows users with Contributor roles to perform stored XSS via shortcode attributes. Note: the plugin is inconsistent in its handling of shortcode attributes; some do escape, most don't, and there are even some attributes that are insecure by design (like [su_button]'s onclick attribute).

Published
Sep 20, 2021
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.6% · 50th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

21

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
21 / 40 · 5.4 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.6%

Is Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements on your site?

WP Lens reads your site's plugin, theme and WordPress versions from the outside and matches them to known vulnerabilities. Works without an account.

Follow CVE-2021-24525

Is Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements on your site?

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for getshortcodes records
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
getshortcodesshortcodes ultimate

Versions reported by the vendor

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

  • Unknown WordPress Shortcodes Plugin — Shortcodes Ultimate

    • 5.10.2 and later · before 5.10.2affected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • getshortcodes shortcodes ultimatebefore 5.10.2

Same product

getshortcodes: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2017-18580The shortcodes-ultimate plugin before 5.0.1 for WordPress has remote code execution via a filter in a meta, post, or user shortcode.
    43Plan
  • CVE-2022-41136WordPress Shortcodes Ultimate plugin <= 5.12.0 - CSRF vulnerability leading to Stored XSS
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2023-23800WordPress Shortcodes Ultimate Plugin <= 5.12.6 is vulnerable to Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
    26Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2017-2245Jul 7, 2017 · Directory traversal vulnerability in Shortcodes Ultimate prior to version 4.10.0 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via…
    21Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2022-38086Oct 11, 2022 · WordPress Shortcodes Ultimate plugin <= 5.12.0 - Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability
    17Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2023-0890Mar 20, 2023 · Shortcodes Ultimate < 5.12.8 - Subscriber+ Arbitrary Post Access
    26Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

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

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

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.

Credits

All researchers

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

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

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

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

nvd-primary

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

—

All records