---
id: CVE-2026-16495
title: >-
  The Countdown Timer – Widget Countdown plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to
  Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'redirect_url' Shortcode Attribute in all
  versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 due to insufficient input sanitization
  and output…
summary: >-
  The Countdown Timer – Widget Countdown plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to
  Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'redirect_url' Shortcode Attribute in all
  versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 due to insufficient input sanitization
  and output…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.4
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-79
published: '2026-10-14'
updated: '2026-10-14'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-14T04:18:18.150'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16495'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/widget-countdown/tags/3.0.1/includes/legacy/front_end.php#L169
    label: security@wordfence.com
  - url: >-
      https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7d757080-d2dc-49f9-bdc6-dba762a8f981?source=cve
    label: security@wordfence.com
tags:
  - nvd
ingestedAt: '2026-10-14T05:14:27.655Z'
---

## Overview

The Countdown Timer – Widget Countdown plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'redirect_url' Shortcode Attribute in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.