WordPressCMS
CVE-2018-20153
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 · uneditedIn WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, contributors could modify new comments made by users with greater privileges, possibly causing XSS.
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 confidenceIn WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, users with contributor-level privileges could modify comments authored by users with higher privilege levels (authors, editors, administrators), potentially allowing injection of malicious scripts (XSS) into those comments.
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
< 4.9.9>= 5.0, < 5.0.1
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0= 9.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed WordPress versionCheck the version.php file in the wp-includes directory, or look at the WordPress admin dashboard under 'At a Glance' in the dashboard widget. The version is typically displayed there.Affected if The installed version is less than 4.9.9 or greater than or equal to 5.0 but less than 5.0.1
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Verify contributor user accounts existNavigate to Users > All Users in the WordPress admin panel and check for any users assigned the 'Contributor' role.Affected if There are users with the Contributor role assigned
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Identify comments from higher-privileged usersGo to Comments in the WordPress admin panel. Look for comments authored by users with roles higher than Contributor, such as Author, Editor, or Administrator. The author name and user role can be checked by clicking on the comment author.Affected if Comments exist that were authored by users with Author, Editor, or Administrator roles
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Check if comment modification is accessible to contributorsAs a user with Contributor privileges, attempt to access the comments list or try to edit an existing comment. Contributors can normally only moderate their own comments but not others' comments.Affected if A Contributor user can access and modify comments authored by higher-privileged users
You are affected if your WordPress version is below 4.9.9 or between 5.0 and 5.0.1, AND you have Contributor-level users in your system, AND there are comments authored by users with higher privilege levels that could be modified.
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 data4.9.95.0.1
Update WordPress to version 4.9.9 or 5.0.1 or later to patch this vulnerability. Ensure proper testing in a staging environment before production deployment.
Fix this in WordPress
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20153 — 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-2018-20153 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