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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Wordfence

CVE-2026-18109: W3 Total Cache <= 2.10.3 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Author Name

HighCVSS 7.2 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 28/100)

  • 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: 0.42% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • No fixed version is recorded, but the references include a patch (commit or PR) link.

Low priority for now. See the fix and affected versions sections below.

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 W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Author Name in all versions up to, and including, 2.10.3 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 vulnerability is only exploitable when the Lazy Load Images feature of W3 Total Cache is enabled, as the unsafe re-emission occurs exclusively within the LazyLoad mutator's img tag rewriting step.

Published
Aug 13, 2026
Updated
Aug 14, 2026
EPSS
0.4% · 37th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

28

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
28 / 40 · 7.2 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.4%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · Wordfence
7.2
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

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

Is W3 Total Cache on your site?

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Is W3 Total Cache 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

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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.

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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.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

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

  • boldgrid W3 Total Cache

    • up to and including 2.10.3affected · semver

Same product

boldgrid: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-57623WordPress W3 Total Cache plugin <= 2.9.4 - Arbitrary Code Execution vulnerability
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2026-27384WordPress W3 Total Cache plugin <= 2.9.1 - Arbitrary Code Execution vulnerability
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2019-6715pub/sns.php in the W3 Total Cache plugin before 0.9.4 for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via the SubscribeURL…
    36Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-9282Jul 11, 2026 · W3 Total Cache <= 2.9.4 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Read via 'f_array[]' Parameter
    31Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-66695Aug 6, 2026 · WordPress W3 Total Cache plugin <= 2.10.2 - Path Traversal vulnerability
    26Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-78438Sep 5, 2026 · W3 Total Cache <= 2.10.5 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via LazyLoad Background Mutator
    28Monitor

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.

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.

Credits

All researchers

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

  • darooPatchstack Bug Bounty Programfinder

Variant candidates

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

  • CVE-2026-7843823 days apartW3 Total Cache <= 2.10.5 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via LazyLoad Background Mutator
    28Monitor
  • CVE-2026-8792050 days apartW3 Total Cache <= 2.10.6 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content
    28Monitor
  • CVE-2026-11125479 days apartW3 Total Cache <= 2.10.7 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content Cached as HTML after License Expiry
    28Monitor
  • CVE-2026-12001979 days apartW3 Total Cache <= 2.10.7 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content via Predictable Minify Placeholder
    21Monitor

Not on record for this CVE: public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • 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
None
User interaction
None
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:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

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

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References

Show all references (7 more)

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

All records