GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory: Cross-site scripting

A Subscriber or higher can save a script-bearing email in a ContactEmail custom field. The administrator must expose that field publicly, and the listing must be approved before viewers encounter the stored payload. The export does not identify the save endpoint or render function. Affected versions: <= 2.8.188. The matching official changelog confirms 2.8.189 as fixed for this CVE.

CVE / CNA score 6.4 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com

NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.

Component: GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory
Plugin slug: geodirectory
Affected: <= 2.8.188
Safe version: 2.8.189
Published: Oct 10, 2026
Weakness: CWE-79 — Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

This CVE was published Oct 10, 2026 and is one of 42 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

Update to 2.8.189 or a later supported release. Application-level remediation: Validate the email field and escape it when generating the publicly configured listing output.

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 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'email (Contact Email custom field htmlvar_name)' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.188 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. Successful exploitation requires that an administrator has added and configured the Contact Email custom field to render on the public single-listing output page, and that the administrator subsequently approves the attacker's submitted listing.

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

References

Primary and upstream sources

Data attribution: This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

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