High severity · published Oct 1, 2026
CVE-2026-96561
AI Engine <= 3.8.0 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'model_' Parameter → PHP Error-Log Injection → Advisor Indirect Prompt Injection
7.2
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The AI Engine – The Chatbot, AI Framework & MCP for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 3.8.0 This is due to a chain of missing input neutralization and output escaping across the /mwai-ui/v1/chats/submit REST endpoint, the PHP error-log parser (MeowKit_MWAI_Helpers::php_error_logs), the Advisor task (Meow_MWAI_Modules_Advisor::run_advisor), and the Advisor dashboard widget (advisor_metabox): the server-parameter denylist in chat_submit strips only exact key names such as 'model' while convert_keys() later canonicalizes 'model_' back to 'model', allowing an unauthenticated caller to place an attacker-controlled string (including CR/LF) into $query->model; final_checks() throws an Exception whose message embeds that raw string, and the non-streaming, non-admin catch branch writes it to the PHP error log unmodified — creating a forged log line that the plugin's own parser subsequently returns as recent PHP-error content; run_advisor() then appends that content verbatim to the AI prompt (indirect prompt injection — CWE-1427), the returned JSON is stored in the mwai_advisor_data option with no schema validation or HTML sanitization, and advisor_metabox() concatenates the resulting 'title' and 'description' values directly into the WordPress dashboard widget without esc_html(), wp_kses(), or equivalent escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever an administrator accesses the WordPress dashboard.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 26% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AE
AI Engine – The Chatbot, AI Framework & MCP for WordPress · tigroumeow
through 3.8.0 · source: vendor
Affected product
AE
AI Engine – The Chatbot, AI Framework & MCP for WordPress
tigroumeow
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96561
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96561
www.wordfence.com
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/910e51da-6ee2-45d5-837b-7fea80f79390?source=cve
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L216
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L162
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L156
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/common/helpers.php#L251
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/chatbot.php#L299
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