CVE-2019-20041

WordPress Core < 5.3.1 - Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

Severity Score

9.8

*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

*KEV

Decision

*SSVC

Descriptions

wp_kses_bad_protocol in wp-includes/kses.php in WordPress before 5.3.1 mishandles the HTML5 colon named entity, allowing attackers to bypass input sanitization, as demonstrated by the javascript&colon; substring.

La función wp_kses_bad_protocol en el archivo wp-includes/kses.php en WordPress versiones anteriores a la versión 5.3.1, maneja inapropiadamente la entidad llamada HTML5 colon, permitiendo a atacantes omitir el saneamiento de entrada, como es demostrado por la subcadena javascript&colon.

Several vulnerabilities were discovered in Wordpress, a web blogging tool. They allowed remote attackers to perform various Cross-Side Scripting (XSS) and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks, create files on the server, disclose private information, create open redirects, poison cache, and bypass authorization access and input sanitation.

*Credits: WordPress.org Security Team

CVSS Scores

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

Partial

Integrity

Partial

Availability

Partial

* Common Vulnerability Scoring System

SSVC

Decision:-

Exploitation

Automatable

Tech. Impact

* Organization's Worst-case Scenario

Timeline

2019-12-13 CVE Published
2019-12-27 CVE Reserved
2024-08-05 CVE Updated
2025-03-30 EPSS Updated
---------- Exploited in Wild
---------- KEV Due Date
---------- First Exploit

CWE

CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

CAPEC

References (6)

URL	Tag	Source
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00010.html	Mailing List
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/8	Mailing List

URL	Date	SRC

URL	Date	SRC
https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/b1975463dd995da19bb40d3fa0786498717e3c53	2022-11-23

URL	Date	SRC
https://wordpress.org/news/2019/12/wordpress-5-3-1-security-and-maintenance-release	2022-11-23
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4599	2022-11-23
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4677	2022-11-23

Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions

Vendor		Product				Version		Other		Status
Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status	<-- -->	Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status
Wordpress Search vendor "Wordpress"		Wordpress Search vendor "Wordpress" for product "Wordpress"				< 5.3.1 Search vendor "Wordpress" for product "Wordpress" and version " < 5.3.1"		-		Affected
Debian Search vendor "Debian"		Debian Linux Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux"				8.0 Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux" and version "8.0"		-		Affected
Debian Search vendor "Debian"		Debian Linux Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux"				9.0 Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux" and version "9.0"		-		Affected
Debian Search vendor "Debian"		Debian Linux Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux"				10.0 Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux" and version "10.0"		-		Affected