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WordPress wordpress core

WordPress Core < 5.0.1 — PHP Object Injection

CVE-2018-20148Published · Updated

Action summary

Affected: ≤5.0Update to 3.7.28 or 3.8.28 or 3.9.26 or 4.0.25 or 4.1.25 or 4.2.22 or 4.3.18 or 4.4.17 or 4.5.16 or 4.6.13 or 4.7.12 or 4.8.8 or 4.9.9 or 5.0.1 or newer

Fixed versions are per release branch: update to the fix for the branch you run.

All remediation steps
Watch core
Severity
High8.8
CVSS
8.8
CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
What does this vector mean?
AV:N Attack vector
Network
AC:L Attack complexity
Low
PR:L Privileges required
Low
UI:N User interaction
None
S:U Scope
Unchanged
C:H Confidentiality
High
I:H Integrity
High
A:H Availability
High
Weakness
CWE-502 PHP Object Injection
Required access
Unknown
Exploit prediction (EPSS)
No score
CISA KEV
Not listed
On this page8

Am I affected?

WordPress wordpress

  1. Affected≤ 5.0
  2. Patched in3.7.28 / 3.8.28 / 3.9.26 / 4.0.25 / 4.1.25 / 4.2.22 / 4.3.18 / 4.4.17 / 4.5.16 / 4.6.13 / 4.7.12 / 4.8.8 / 4.9.9 / 5.0.1

Update to 3.7.28 / 3.8.28 / 3.9.26 / 4.0.25 / 4.1.25 / 4.2.22 / 4.3.18 / 4.4.17 / 4.5.16 / 4.6.13 / 4.7.12 / 4.8.8 / 4.9.9 / 5.0.1 or newer.

You are affected if you run ≤ 5.0. Version 3.7.28, 3.8.28, 3.9.26, 4.0.25, 4.1.25, 4.2.22, 4.3.18, 4.4.17, 4.5.16, 4.6.13, 4.7.12, 4.8.8, 4.9.9, 5.0.1 and later are not affected by this issue.

  • Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under WordPress.
  • No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.

What to do

  1. Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.7.28, 3.8.28, 3.9.26, 4.0.25, 4.1.25, 4.2.22, 4.3.18, 4.4.17, 4.5.16, 4.6.13, 4.7.12, 4.8.8, 4.9.9, 5.0.1
  2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
  3. Watch WordPress to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Sam Thomas.

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.

Exploits & references

Proof-of-concept & detection

No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.

Advisories & patches

Same weakness (PHP Object Injection)

All PHP Object Injection
Other PHP Object Injection vulnerabilities
SeverityVulnerabilityCVEPublished
High7.2Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment User-Agent Header
EZ SQL Reports Shortcode Widget and DB Backup≤5.25.25Update to 5.26.45
CVE-2026-120688
Critical9.8Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via File Upload via Public Form Submission
Chatterbug Forms – Fast, Flexible WordPress Form Builder≤1.0.2Update to 1.1
CVE-2026-125055
Critical9.8Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution via 'form' Parameter
ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System≤3.3.9Update to 3.4.0
CVE-2026-119077
Medium5.3Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Exposure in 'search' Parameter
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce≤5.127.0Update to 5.128.0
CVE-2026-121518

Timeline

  1. CVE published

    Severity high, CVSS 8.8

  2. Record last updated

Sources & licenses

Wordfence record
Vulnerability data
Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
CVE® identifiers
Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
CVSS / CWE
National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
VulnCrest content
Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.

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