CVE-2018-20148

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Elevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 27%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

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.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
65(Track*)
EG Risk 65/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
27%
EPSS %ILE
98%
KEV
Not listed

Published

December 14, 2018

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated Sep 12, 2026
⚠️ Active exploitation confirmed. Patch available.
generic🔴 Active Exploitation

Severe vulnerability exposes WordPress websites to attack - ZDNET

https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-vulnerability-affects-a-third-of-most-popular-websites-online/
generic🔴 Active Exploitation

WordPress plugs bug that led to Google indexing some user passwords - ZDNET

https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-plugs-bug-that-led-to-google-indexing-some-user-passwords/
generic

[SECURITY] [DSA 4401-1] wordpress security update

https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4401
generic Patch Available

Version 5.0.1 – Documentation – WordPress.org

https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-0-1/
generic Patch Available

WordPress 5.0.1 Security Release – WordPress News

https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/wordpress-5-0-1-security-release/
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 1673-1] wordpress security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/02/msg00019.html
generic

CVE-2018-20147 - PSIRT.COM

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106220
generic

Version 4.9.9 – Documentation – WordPress.org

https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.9.9

Affected Packages

(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress—5.0.1+dfsg1-1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress—5.0.1+dfsg1-1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress—5.0.1+dfsg1-1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress—5.0.1+dfsg1-1—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress4.1+dfsg-1 ... 4.1.1+dfsg-1 (20 versions)4.1.25+dfsg-1+deb8u1—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
wordpress4.7.5+dfsg-2 ... 4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u4 (7 versions)4.7.5+dfsg-2+deb9u5—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 23× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 128 total refreshes for this CVE.

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Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCnth347/CVE-2018-20148_exploit
    First seen Nov 16, 2021

    Exploit for CVE-2018-20148 - WordPress PHAR deserialization via XMLRPC

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2018-20148?
CVE-2018-20148 is a critical vulnerability published on December 14, 2018. 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 wpgetattachmentthumbfile function in wp-includes/post.php.
When was CVE-2018-20148 disclosed?
CVE-2018-20148 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on December 14, 2018, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2018-20148 actively exploited?
CVE-2018-20148 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 27% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 2.1% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-20148?
CVE-2018-20148 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2018-20148?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2018-20148, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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