Instant Popup Builder – Powerful Popup Maker For Opt Ins, Email Newsletters & Lead Generation

The Instant Popup Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Shortcode Execution in all versions up to and including 1.1.7. This is due to the handle_email_verification_page() function constructing a shortcode string from user-supplied GET parameters (token, email) and passing it to do_shortcode() without properly sanitizing square bracket characters, combined with missing authorization checks on the init hook. While sanitize_text_field() and esc_attr() are applied, neither function strips or escapes square bracket characters ([ and ]). WordPress's shortcode regex uses [^\]\/]* to match content inside shortcode tags, meaning a ] character in the token value prematurely closes the shortcode tag. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject and execute arbitrary registered shortcodes by crafting a malicious token parameter containing ] followed by arbitrary shortcode syntax.

Published: 2026-03-19T07:34:56.084Z
Updated: 2026-04-08T17:10:30.120Z