CVE-2026-78438

The W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment Content via LazyLoad Background Mutator in all versions up to, and including, 2.10.5 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 "Lazy Load Images" feature with "Process background images" to be enabled, and the malicious comment to be approved by a moderator before execution is triggered.

Score

CVSS 3.1 7.2 High

Status

Deferred - security@wordfence.com

Published

2026-09-05

Last modified

2026-09-07

Weaknesses

CWE-79

Affected products

• W3 Total Cache (Boldgrid)

References

• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/w3-total-cache/tags/2.10.5/UserExperience_LazyLoad_Mutator.php#L255
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/w3-total-cache/tags/2.10.5/UserExperience_LazyLoad_Mutator.php#L293
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/w3-total-cache/tags/2.10.5/UserExperience_LazyLoad_Mutator.php#L91
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/w3-total-cache/tags/2.10.5/UserExperience_LazyLoad_Plugin.php#L87
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3680101/w3-total-cache/tags/2.10.6/UserExperience_LazyLoad_Mutator.php
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Fw3-total-cache/tags/2.10.5&new_path=%2Fw3-total-cache/tags/2.1…
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&new=3680101%40w3-total-cache%2Ftags%2F2.10.6&old=3653442%40w3-to…
• https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/5580ad05-af50-4899-9cbf-39ad8000eb6a?source=cve