WordPress Core < 5.0.1 — Remote Code Execution
CVE-2019-8942Published · 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- Severity
- High8.8
- CVSS
- 8.8CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:LAttack complexity- Low
PR:LPrivileges required- Low
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:UScope- Unchanged
C:HConfidentiality- High
I:HIntegrity- High
A:HAvailability- High
- Required access
- Unknown
- Exploit prediction (EPSS)
- No score
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
On this page7
Am I affected?
WordPress wordpress
- Affected≤ 5.0
- 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
- 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
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
- Watch WordPress to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.
Advisory
Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Simon Scannell.
WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1 allows remote code execution because an _wp_attached_file Post Meta entry can be changed to an arbitrary string, such as one ending with a .jpg?file.php substring. An attacker with author privileges can execute arbitrary code by uploading a crafted image containing PHP code in the Exif metadata. Exploitation can leverage CVE-2019-8943.
Exploits & references
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Timeline
CVE published
Severity high, CVSS 8.8
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.