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WordPressCMS

CVE-2017-6514

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-05-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
WordPress 4.7.2 mishandles listings of post authors, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information (Path Disclosure) via a /wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url= request, related to the "author_name":" substring.

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 · high confidence

WordPress 4.7.2 contains an information disclosure vulnerability in the REST API oembed endpoint. The /wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url= request exposes the author_name field which can reveal sensitive path information about the WordPress installation to remote attackers.

MitigationUpdate WordPress to a version newer than 4.7.2 that patches this vulnerability, or alternatively disable or restrict access to the wp-json/oembed endpoint if updating is not immediately feasible.

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
Affected:= 4.7.2

CVSS 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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm WordPress version is 4.7.2
    View the HTML source of any page on the site and look for the meta name="generator" content="WordPress 4.7.2" tag, or check the $wp_version variable in wp-includes/version.php, or log into the WordPress admin dashboard and check the At a Glance widget in the Dashboard
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 4.7.2
  2. Test oembed endpoint accessibility
    Send a GET request to /wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=YOUR_SITE_URL (replace YOUR_SITE_URL with your actual site URL) using curl or a browser
    Affected if The endpoint returns a 200 OK status with JSON response containing oembed data
  3. Inspect author_name field for path disclosure
    Parse the JSON response from the oembed endpoint and examine the value of the author_name field
    Affected if The author_name field contains filesystem paths, absolute directory paths, or other sensitive path information rather than just the author's display name

The environment is affected if running WordPress 4.7.2 with the REST API oembed endpoint accessible and the author_name field exposing sensitive path information.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update WordPress to a version newer than 4.7.2 that patches this vulnerability, or alternatively disable or restrict access to the wp-json/oembed endpoint if updating is not immediately feasible.

Fix this in WordPress Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-6514 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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