Attack Chain

1. An unauthenticated attacker crafts a malicious payload containing XSS code within a Gravity Forms Consent field. The payload leverages HTML tags like <svg> that wp_kses() will strip.
2. The attacker submits the crafted form entry to the WordPress site.
3. The Gravity Forms plugin’s state validation mechanism calculates two hashes: one for the raw input and another after sanitization via wp_kses().
4. Due to the nature of the XSS payload, the wp_kses() function strips the <svg> tag, resulting in a matching hash for the sanitized input.
5. The flawed validation logic fails to detect the malicious intent because at least one hash matches the original state, allowing the malicious raw value (containing the XSS payload) to be stored in the database.
6. An authenticated administrator logs into the WordPress administration panel.
7. The administrator navigates to the Entries List page for the affected Gravity Form.
8. The stored malicious consent label is retrieved from the database and output without proper escaping, causing the XSS payload to execute within the administrator’s browser session.

Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-5113 allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts within the context of an authenticated administrator’s browser session. This can lead to a variety of malicious outcomes, including account compromise, data theft, modification of website content, or further propagation of the attack to other administrative users. The severity of the impact depends on the privileges held by the compromised administrator account.

Recommendation

• Upgrade the Gravity Forms plugin to the latest version, which includes a fix for CVE-2026-5113.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to filter out requests containing potentially malicious XSS payloads targeting the Gravity Forms Consent field.
• Monitor web server logs for suspicious activity related to form submissions containing encoded or obfuscated JavaScript code. Analyze HTTP request parameters for unusual characters or patterns indicative of XSS attempts.
• Enable output escaping on form entries to prevent stored XSS attacks.