7.2
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-96561
AI Engine <= 3.8.0 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'model_' Parameter → PHP Error-Log Injection → Advisor Indirect Prompt Injection
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.

INFO

Published Date :

Oct. 1, 2026, 4:18 a.m.

Last Modified :

Oct. 1, 2026, 4:18 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-96561 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH MITRE-CVE
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
Update The AI Engine to patch Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities.
  • Update The AI Engine plugin to version 3.8.1 or later.
  • Apply input validation and output escaping to user-provided data.
  • Sanitize all data stored in plugin options.
  • Ensure proper HTML escaping before rendering user content.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-96561 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-96561 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-96561 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-96561 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Oct. 01, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added 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.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
    Added CWE CWE-79
    Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/96xxx/CVE-2026-96561.json">CVE-2026-96561</a>
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/engines/core.php#L533
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L156
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L162
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/advisor.php#L216
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/chatbot.php#L122
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/chatbot.php#L299
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/modules/chatbot.php#L597
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/query/base.php#L360
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/classes/rest.php#L464
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.8.0/common/helpers.php#L251
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Fai-engine%2Ftags%2F3.8.0&new_path=%2Fai-engine%2Ftags%2F3.8.1
    Added Reference https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/910e51da-6ee2-45d5-837b-7fea80f79390?source=cve
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.