WordPressCMS
CVE-2020-28033
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 · uneditedWordPress before 5.5.2 mishandles embeds from disabled sites on a multisite network, as demonstrated by allowing a spam embed.
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 confidenceWordPress versions before 5.5.2 had a vulnerability in multisite network embed handling that incorrectly allowed embeds from disabled sites. This could be exploited to display spam content through embedded posts from sites that had been disabled on a multisite network.
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
< 5.5.2
FedoraOperating system
= 31= 32= 33
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 9.0= 10.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Check WordPress versionOpen wp-includes/version.php and look for the $wp_version variable, or check the HTML source of any WordPress admin page for the generator meta tagAffected if Version is less than 5.5.2 (e.g., 5.5.1, 5.5.0, 5.4.x, etc.)
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Verify multisite network is enabledOpen wp-config.php in the WordPress root directory and search for the MULTISITE constant defined as true, or check for the presence of wp_blogs and wp_site tables in the databaseAffected if MULTISITE is defined as true in wp-config.php
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Identify disabled sites in the networkQuery the wp_blogs table in the database and check the archived flag (archived = 1) for any sites, or use the network admin dashboard to view sites marked as archived/spam/deletedAffected if There are sites in the network with archived, spam, or deleted status that could still have their embeds rendered
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Inspect embedded content for spamReview recent embeds across the network by checking post content in wp_posts table for iframes or embed shortcodes referencing disabled site IDs, or manually visit pages containing embeds to look for unexpected spam contentAffected if Embedded posts from disabled sites are still being rendered and displaying content
A user is affected if they run WordPress below 5.5.2 with multisite enabled and have disabled sites whose embeds are incorrectly being rendered.
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 data5.5.2
Update WordPress to version 5.5.2 or later to patch this vulnerability. Additionally, review recent embeds on the network for any spam content that may have been injected through this vulnerability.
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-2020-28033 — 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-2020-28033 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