Medium severity · published Oct 1, 2026
CVE-2026-19902
Ad Inserter <= 2.8.18 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via {search-query} Dynamic Tag (Referer Header)
6.1
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the Referer header in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.18 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the '{search-query}' dynamic tag. When an ad block's code contains that tag, replace_ai_tags() reads $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] and tests it with the regex /[\.\/](google|yahoo|bing|ask)\.[a-z\.]{2,5}[\/]/i. The leading [\.\/] class matches a literal slash, so any referrer merely containing a segment such as '/google.com/' passes as a search-engine referral; the plugin then percent-decodes the referring query with parse_str() and substitutes the resulting 'q' (or 'p') value into the block via preg_replace() with no escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the site for any visitor, including a signed-in administrator, by luring them to an attacker-controlled page that frames or links to any ordinary post. Exploitation requires the site to have an ad block whose code uses the '{search-query}' tag with automatic insertion enabled — a documented plugin feature used as intended.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 18% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AI
Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads · spacetime
through 2.8.18 · source: vendor
Affected product
AI
Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads
spacetime
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-19902
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-19902
www.wordfence.com
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/5d632cce-40a9-4969-b213-8370ae75287e?source=cve
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.18/ad-inserter.php#L13093
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.18/ad-inserter.php#L13018
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.18/ad-inserter.php#L13022
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.18/ad-inserter.php#L13025
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.18/class.php#L3297
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