WordPressCMS
CVE-2017-5489
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedCross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WordPress before 4.7.1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of unspecified victims via vectors involving a Flash file upload.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceCross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in WordPress versions prior to 4.7.1 allows remote attackers to hijack user authentication by exploiting vectors involving Flash file uploads, potentially allowing unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
WordPressCMS
<= 4.7CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine your WordPress versionLog into the WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Dashboard > Updates, or check the version in the site source code meta tag (generator). Alternatively, access /wp-admin/about.php which displays the version number.Affected if The installed version is 4.7.0 or earlier (any version below 4.7.1)
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Identify if XML-RPC is enabledAttempt to access the XML-RPC endpoint by visiting /xmlrpc.php on your WordPress site. If the page loads without a 403 or 404 error, the feature is enabled.Affected if XML-RPC is accessible, as this is one vector for the Flash upload CSRF attack described in this CVE
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Verify Flash upload capabilityCheck your site for any plugins or themes that may handle media uploads via Flash-based uploaders. Inspect page source for references to flashuploader, swfupload, or similar Flash-based upload components.Affected if Flash-based file upload functionality is present and accessible to authenticated users
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Confirm user authentication settingsReview your WordPress user role settings to determine if lower-privileged users (subscribers, contributors) have the ability to upload media files. Navigate to Users > All Users and check role capabilities.Affected if Authenticated users with upload permissions exist on the site and can be targeted via CSRF
Your site is affected if it runs WordPress version 4.7.0 or earlier AND has XML-RPC or Flash-based file upload features accessible to authenticated users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate WordPress to version 4.7.1 or later to patch this vulnerability. Additionally, consider disabling Flash support in browsers as a defense-in-depth measure.
Fix this in WordPress
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-5489 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-5489 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data