CVE-2024-8981: Broken Link Checker <= 2.4.0 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-10-01 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-80

Description

The Broken Link Checker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting due to the use of add_query_arg in /app/admin-notices/features/class-view.php without appropriate escaping on the URL in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.0. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that execute if they can successfully trick a user into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

Affected products

wpmudev Broken Link Checker: through 2.4.0

References

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/broken-link-checker/tags/2.4.0/app/admin-notices/features/class-view.php#L43
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3159860/broken-link-checker/trunk/app/admin-notices/features/class-view.php
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/429fe34a-5fa9-4032-9b21-4de114dbc9d1?source=cve

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