Simple Draft List: Cross-site scripting
Simple Draft List is affected by cross-site scripting. Exploitation requires at least contributor-level access. Injected script can execute in the affected site's origin when the vulnerable output is viewed.
- Component
- Simple Draft List
- Plugin slug
simple-draft-list- Affected
- See vendor advisory
- Safe version
- See mitigation notes
- Published
- Mar 19, 2026
This CVE was published Mar 19, 2026 and is one of 3 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update Simple Draft List to a release outside the affected range, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
No confirmed safe version is listed. Consider a vendor-supported patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality while you assess the risk.
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.
Technical description
The Simple Draft List plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'display_name' post meta (Custom Field) in all versions up to and including 2.6.2. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the author display name when no author URL is present. The plugin accesses `$draft_data->display_name` which, because `display_name` is not a native WP_Post property, triggers WP_Post::__get() and resolves to `get_post_meta($post_id, 'display_name', true)`. When the `user_url` meta field is empty, the `$author` value is assigned to `$author_link` on line 383 without any escaping (unlike line 378 which uses `esc_html()` for the `{{author}}` tag, and line 381 which uses `esc_html()` when a URL is present). This unescaped value is then inserted into the shortcode output via `str_replace()`. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses a page containing the `[drafts]` shortcode with the `{{author+link}}` template tag.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Primary and upstream sources
- NVD record for CVE-2026-4006
- WordPress upstream reference plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- WordPress upstream reference plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- WordPress upstream reference plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- WordPress upstream reference plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- WordPress upstream reference plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- Wordfence advisory wordfence.com