CVE-2021-29447WordPress Authenticated XXE attack when installation is running PHP 8
- 7.1HighCVSS base score
- 85.7%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.3% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Wordpress is an open source CMS. A user with the ability to upload files (like an Author) can exploit an XML parsing issue in the Media Library leading to XXE attacks. This requires WordPress installation to be using PHP 8. Access to internal files is possible in a successful XXE attack. This has been patched in WordPress version 5.7.1, along with the older affected versions via a minor release. We strongly recommend you keep auto-updates enabled.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it.
Show the exploits1
Exploit-DB1 entry
- WordPress 5.7 - 'Media Library' XML External Entity Injection (XXE) (Authenticated) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 50304webapps, phppublished 20 Sept 2021Not verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 16 days later
· 16 days later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 85.7% · top 0.3% of all CVEs (15 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.1.
Affected products
- affected >= 5.6.0, < 5.7.1
References
References7
- https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-rv47-pc52-qrhh (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://wordpress.org/news/category/security/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20210421 [SECURITY] [DLA 2630-1] wordpress security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- DSA-4896 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163148/XML-External-Entity-Via-MP3-File-Upload-On-WordPress.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164198/WordPress-5.7-Media-Library-XML-Injection.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.sonarsource.com/wordpress-xxe-security-vulnerability/ (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-2021-16064 (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-2021-29447)Record last updated .