CVE-2026-116552: Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability
medium 4.7 published 2026-10-30
- Affected versions
- 2.6.64 and older
- Fixed in
- 2.6.65 *
- Latest version
- 2.6.65
- Severity
- Medium · CVSS 4.7
- Active installs
- 3,000+
- Type
- Stored cross-site scripting (XSS)
* The source does not name a fixed version; this is the first wordpress.org release after the last affected version.
What an attacker needs
- Access: None. No account or login is needed.
- Interaction: It also needs someone on the site (often an admin) to click a link, open a page or submit a form the attacker prepared.
CVSS vector (score by Wordfence): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
What to do now
- Update Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn to 2.6.65 or newer: Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get likebtn-like-button --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'HTTP_CLIENT_IP (Client-IP header)' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 2.6.64 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. Successful exploitation requires the site administrator to have disabled the default 'Be GDPR compliant' option, which would otherwise hash stored IP values and neutralize the payload. Successful exploitation additionally requires an action by an administrator — the attacker cannot trigger the vulnerability on their own.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-116552 nvd.nist.gov
- Wordfence advisory www.wordfence.com
- Code change (fix) plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- Plugin source plugins.trac.wordpress.org
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
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Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/likebtn-like-button (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-04.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.