WordPress MDTF Plugin Stored XSS via Unvalidated Shortcode Parameters

The MDTF – Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'vars' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This requires that a published page or post on the target site contains the [meta_data_filter_results] shortcode, which is the primary output feature of the plugin.

Casky was already ahead

This CVE exploits attack patterns that Casky's 323matched skills already investigate — long before this vulnerability was disclosed. Claude's reasoning model maps these techniques to MITRE ATT&CK, so practitioners who ran these skills have already seen the threat behaviour in their findings.

Analysis

The MDTF – Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter WordPress plugin contains a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in versions up to 1.4.1 that allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts through the 'vars' parameter of the [meta_data_filter_results] shortcode. Due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping, these scripts persist in the page content and execute whenever any user accesses the affected page or post. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication, affects publicly accessible WordPress sites, and impacts any user who views a compromised page—making it a high-severity threat (CVSS 7.2) to website integrity and user security.

Casky's 323 mapped skills leverage Claude AI with extended reasoning to detect the attack patterns behind this vulnerability across MITRE ATT&ACK techniques TA0001 (Initial Access) and TA0043 (Reconnaissance). Practitioners using Casky would identify suspicious activity through detection of shortcode parameter injection attempts, anomalous script tags embedded in post/page content, and unusual DOM manipulation patterns. The platform's skills correlate input validation failures in WordPress plugin code with outbound script execution, flagging instances where user-supplied 'vars' parameters are reflected without proper HTML entity encoding. Security teams would observe findings highlighting the attack chain: reconnaissance of vulnerable plugin versions → crafting malicious shortcode payloads → stored payload execution in victim browsers → session hijacking or credential theft, enabling proactive remediation before exploitation occurs.

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Casky Risk Score

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EPSS Probability

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Shodan Exposure

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GreyNoise Signal

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Composite risk scoring from EPSS, CISA KEV, Shodan, and GreyNoise — 21 security APIs correlated into a single Casky Risk Score. Coming in Casky Pro. Join early access →

323 Casky skills cover this attack pattern

These skills use Claude AI's reasoning model to surface findings in the same attack categories as CVE-2026-110776.

Abuse of Public-Facing API: Mobile API Abuse

mobile security · low

Run

abusing-dpapi-for-credential-access

red teaming · high

Run

abusing-shadow-credentials-for-privesc

red teaming · high

Run

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

TA0001 TA0043

Investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2026-110776

Casky has 323 skills that investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2026-110776. Run one and get CVSS-scored findings in 3 minutes.

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