The Columns by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'id' shortcode attribute of the [print_clmns] shortcode in all versions up to and including 1.0.3. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the 'id' attribute. The shortcode receives the 'id' parameter via shortcode_atts() at line 596 and directly embeds it into HTML output at line 731 (in a div id attribute) and into inline CSS at lines 672-729 without any escaping or sanitization. While the SQL query uses %d to cast the value to an integer for database lookup, the original unsanitized string value of $id is still used in the HTML/CSS output. 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 an injected page. The attack requires that at least one column exists in the plugin (created by an admin), as the SQL query must return results for the output branch to be reached.
Columns by BestWebSoft <= 1.0.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'columns' Shortcode 'id' Attribute
Problem type
Affected products
bestweblayout
<= 1.0.3 - AFFECTED
References
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d3e293db-9177-4fbb-a469-900d9330642d?source=cve
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L731
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L731
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L596
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L596
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L672
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L672
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L729
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L729
GitHub Security Advisories
GHSA-5xc8-cv7x-vq3g
The Columns by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via...
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5xc8-cv7x-vq3gThe Columns by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'id' shortcode attribute of the [print_clmns] shortcode in all versions up to and including 1.0.3. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the 'id' attribute. The shortcode receives the 'id' parameter via shortcode_atts() at line 596 and directly embeds it into HTML output at line 731 (in a div id attribute) and into inline CSS at lines 672-729 without any escaping or sanitization. While the SQL query uses %d to cast the value to an integer for database lookup, the original unsanitized string value of $id is still used in the HTML/CSS output. 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 an injected page. The attack requires that at least one column exists in the plugin (created by an admin), as the SQL query must return results for the output branch to be reached.
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-3618
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L596
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L672
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L729
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L731
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L596
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L672
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L729
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L731
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d3e293db-9177-4fbb-a469-900d9330642d?source=cve
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5xc8-cv7x-vq3g
JSON source
https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-3618Click to expand
{
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2",
"cveMetadata": {
"cveId": "CVE-2026-3618",
"assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
"assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
"dateUpdated": "2026-04-08T06:43:41.698Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-03-05T19:02:48.162Z",
"datePublished": "2026-04-08T06:43:41.698Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"containers": {
"cna": {
"providerMetadata": {
"orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
"shortName": "Wordfence",
"dateUpdated": "2026-04-08T06:43:41.698Z"
},
"title": "Columns by BestWebSoft <= 1.0.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'columns' Shortcode 'id' Attribute",
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "The Columns by BestWebSoft plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'id' shortcode attribute of the [print_clmns] shortcode in all versions up to and including 1.0.3. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on the 'id' attribute. The shortcode receives the 'id' parameter via shortcode_atts() at line 596 and directly embeds it into HTML output at line 731 (in a div id attribute) and into inline CSS at lines 672-729 without any escaping or sanitization. While the SQL query uses %d to cast the value to an integer for database lookup, the original unsanitized string value of $id is still used in the HTML/CSS output. 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 an injected page. The attack requires that at least one column exists in the plugin (created by an admin), as the SQL query must return results for the output branch to be reached."
}
],
"affected": [
{
"vendor": "bestweblayout",
"product": "Columns by BestWebSoft – Additional Columns Plugin for Posts Pages and Widgets",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"versions": [
{
"version": "0",
"status": "affected",
"versionType": "semver",
"lessThanOrEqual": "1.0.3"
}
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}
],
"problemTypes": [
{
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"description": "CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')",
"cweId": "CWE-79",
"type": "CWE"
}
]
}
],
"references": [
{
"url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d3e293db-9177-4fbb-a469-900d9330642d?source=cve"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L731"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L731"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L596"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L596"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L672"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L672"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/trunk/columns-bws.php#L729"
},
{
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/columns-bws/tags/1.0.3/columns-bws.php#L729"
}
],
"metrics": [
{
"cvssV3_1": {
"version": "3.1",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N",
"baseScore": 6.4,
"baseSeverity": "MEDIUM"
}
}
],
"timeline": [
{
"time": "2026-04-07T17:37:49.000Z",
"lang": "en",
"value": "Disclosed"
}
],
"credits": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "Muhammad Yudha - DJ",
"type": "finder"
}
]
}
}
}