XSS in Apache Wicket

CVE-2026-76986

Improper neutralization of input during web page generation in Apache Wicket. org.apache.wicket.markup.html.form.AbstractSingleSelectChoice, the base class of DropDownChoice, writes the body of the default option — the entry shown when no choice is selected — into the markup as it is, while every other option body in the same select is escaped according to the escape-model-strings setting. The body comes from getNullValidDisplayValue() or getNullKeyDisplayValue(), both of which are protected, so what they return is not necessarily the plain text the default implementation reads from a resource bundle. An application is affected where it overrides one of those methods and returns a value holding data an attacker can influence, or where its own nullValid or null bundle entry holds such a value. The bundles shipped with Wicket contain plain text. RadioChoice overrides getDefaultChoice to emit no default option and is not affected. As a workaround, escape the value in the override. This issue affects Apache Wicket: from 8.0.0 through 8.18.0, from 9.0.0 through 9.23.0, from 10.0.0 through 10.10.0. Older, unsupported releases from 1.5.0 onwards are also affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 8.19.0, 9.24.0 or 10.11.0, which fix the issue.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.006 (46.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 46th percentile — 46.1% 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-2026-76986: held from 0.006 to 0.006.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-76986?
CVE-2026-76986 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apache Wicket, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2026-08-31.
How severe is CVE-2026-76986?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.