# Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory <= 6.1.5 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via Listing Description

- **ID:** WPSEC-2026-1243
- **Plugin:** Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory (`classified-listing`), https://wordpress.org/plugins/classified-listing/
- **Affected versions:** all versions before 6.2.0
- **Fixed in:** 6.2.0 (Update to 6.2.0 or later.)
- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L)
- **Weakness:** CWE-94
- **Usage among sites WPSec scans:** plugin Low, affected versions Low (as of 2026-10-19)
- **Attack surface analysis:** https://attacksurface.wpsec.com/plugin/classified-listing
- **Fix released:** 2026-10-18
- **Published:** 2026-10-19
- **URL:** https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1243/

## Description

The Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via the listing description submitted through the rtcl_post_new_listing AJAX action in all versions up to, and including, 6.1.5. This is due to an inverted capability check in the Functions::sanitize() routine, which removed shortcodes only for editors and kept them for every other non-administrator user, before the description is saved as the listing content and later rendered through the 'the_content' filter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access and above, and unauthenticated attackers when guest listing submission is enabled, to run arbitrary shortcodes.

## References

- https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1243/
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/classified-listing/tags/6.2.0/
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/classified-listing/

Source: WPSec, https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1243/

License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Free to use, share and adapt, also commercially, if you credit WPSec and link to this advisory.