XSS in Mantisbt

CVE-2026-39960

Mantis Bug Tracker (MantisBT) is an open source issue tracker. Versions 2.28.1 and below contain flawed logic that causes improper escaping of a textarea custom field's contents in the Update Issue page, (bug_update_page.php) allowing an attacker to inject HTML and, if CSP settings permit, execute arbitrary JavaScript when the page is loaded. This facilitates session theft, leading to admin account takeover, full project data access. In order to exploit this issue, a textarea-type custom field must be configured for the project, the attack must be carried out by an authenticated user with bug report permission (low privilege). This can affect any user viewing the bug edit form, including administrators. The issue has been fixed in version 2.28.2. If users cannot immediately upgrade, they can work around the issue by using the default Content-Security Policy, which blocks script execution.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (19.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 19th percentile — 19.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-39960: held from 0.002 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.003 · change: +0.001

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-39960?
CVE-2026-39960 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Mantisbt, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 5.4/10. Published 2026-05-20.
How severe is CVE-2026-39960?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.4 out of 10.