WordPress security changelog
MEDIUM CVE-2026-8790 Deferred

Football Pool shoutbox error reflection permits cross-site scripting

Football Pool through 2.13.4 reflects the raw shouttext POST value into the Shoutbox widget's textarea with printf('%s', ...) when a submission fails its nonce check, has empty text or cannot be saved. Because the value is not HTML-escaped, an unauthenticated attacker can prepare a cross-origin POST that breaks out of the textarea. Script executes if a logged-in victim with Subscriber access or higher is induced to submit the crafted request to a page containing the Shoutbox widget.

CVE / CNA score 6.1 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com
NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.
Component
Football Pool
Plugin slug
football-pool
Affected
<= 2.13.4
Safe version
> 2.13.4
Published
Aug 05, 2026
Weakness
CWE-79 — Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

This CVE was published Aug 05, 2026 and is one of 9 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

Update Football Pool to a release after 2.13.4. The authoritative record links the upstream escaping correction but does not identify the first fixed release. Avoid untrusted requests targeting Shoutbox pages until updated.

A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.

Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.

Source record

Technical description

The Football Pool plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the `shouttext` POST parameter of the Shoutbox widget in all versions up to, and including, 2.13.4 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. When a shoutbox form submission fails the nonce check (or `shouttext` is empty, or the user is unable to save), the raw POST value is echoed back into a `<textarea>` element using `printf('%s', ...)` with no HTML escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts in the browser of an authenticated victim (Subscriber-level or higher) who is tricked into submitting a crafted POST request to a page that contains the Shoutbox widget.

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

References

Primary and upstream sources