CVE-2019-20042 — In wp-includes/formatting
In wp-includes/formatting.php in WordPress 3.7 to 5.3.0, the function wp_targeted_link_rel() can be used in a particular way to result in a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. This has been patched in WordPress 5.3.1, along with all the previous WordPress versions fr
Published
2019-12-27T07:14:37.000Z
Last modified
2024-08-05T02:32:10.548Z
01What is this vulnerability?
In wp-includes/formatting.php in WordPress 3.7 to 5.3.0, the function wp_targeted_link_rel() can be used in a particular way to result in a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. This has been patched in WordPress 5.3.1, along with all the previous WordPress versions from 3.7 to 5.3 via a minor release.
02Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|
| n | a / n/a | n/a |
03Active exploitation status
Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.
04Recommended remediation
- Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
- Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
- Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.
05Technical details
For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.
06Detection signatures
Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.
07Related CVEs
No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.
08Timeline
- Published: 2019-12-27T07:14:37.000Z
- Last modified: 2024-08-05T02:32:10.548Z
09References
- wpvulndb.com — https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9975
- wordpress.org — https://wordpress.org/news/2019/12/wordpress-5-3-1-security-and-maintenance-rele…
- core.trac.wordpress.org — https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/46894/trunk
- github.com — https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/1f7f3f1f59567e2504f0fbebd5…
- blog.ripstech.com — https://blog.ripstech.com/filter/vulnerabilities/
- seclists.org — https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/8
- www.debian.org — https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4599
- github.com — https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-xvg2-m2f…
- hackerone.com — https://hackerone.com/reports/509930
- www.debian.org — https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4677
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