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WordPressCMS

CVE-2019-17672

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.2.4 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 before 5.2.4 is vulnerable to a stored XSS attack to inject JavaScript into STYLE elements.

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 confidence

WordPress before version 5.2.4 contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into STYLE elements. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient input validation and sanitization of style-related content within the WordPress core.

MitigationUpgrade WordPress to version 5.2.4 or later to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as a defense-in-depth measure to mitigate XSS attacks.

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:< 5.2.4
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0= 10.0

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check WordPress version in core file
    Open wp-includes/version.php and locate the $wp_version variable. Alternatively, view the meta generator tag in page source of any WordPress admin page or the login page.
    Affected if The version returned is less than 5.2.4 (for example, 5.2.3, 5.2.2, etc.)
  2. Verify WordPress via readme.html
    If present, access /readme.html on your WordPress site and note the version number listed there.
    Affected if The version shown is 5.2.3 or earlier.
  3. Check Debian package version (if applicable)
    Run command: dpkg -l | grep wordpress or apt-cache policy wordpress
    Affected if The installed package version is below the version that patches CVE-2019-17672 in Debian repositories.

Your environment is affected if the installed WordPress version is below 5.2.4, as the stored XSS vulnerability in STYLE element sanitization exists only in those earlier versions.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.2.4 or later
Fixed in 5.2.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade WordPress to version 5.2.4 or later to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers as a defense-in-depth measure to mitigate XSS attacks.

Fix this in WordPress Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

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

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2019-17672 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