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CVE-2018-20148
In WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, contributors could conduct PHP object injection attacks via crafted metadata in a…
- 9.8CriticalCVSS base score
- 26.8%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 2.0% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, contributors could conduct PHP object injection attacks via crafted metadata in a wp.getMediaItem XMLRPC call. This is caused by mishandling of serialized data at phar:// URLs in the wp_get_attachment_thumb_file function in wp-includes/post.php.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 6 years later
· 6 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.0 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 26.8% · top 2.0% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
Loading the EPSS history…
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
10
- 106220 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-0-1/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.secarma.co.uk/labs/near-phar-dangerous-unserialization-wherever-you-are (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.9.9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9171 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-vulnerability-affects-a-third-of-most-popular-websites-online/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- DSA-4401 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/wordpress-5-0-1-security-release/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190211 [SECURITY] [DLA 1673-1] wordpress security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-plugs-bug-that-led-to-google-indexing-some-user-passwords/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-12717 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-20148)Record last updated .