Litespeed CacheWordPress extension · Litespeedtech
CVE-2020-29172
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 · uneditedA cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the LiteSpeed Cache plugin before 3.6.1 for WordPress can be exploited via the Server IP setting.
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 confidenceA stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin before version 3.6.1. The vulnerability is located in the Server IP setting field, where unsanitized user input is stored and later rendered without proper output encoding, allowing injection of malicious JavaScript scripts.
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
Litespeed CacheWordPress extension
< 3.6.1CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm LiteSpeed Cache plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'LiteSpeed Cache' in the listAffected if LiteSpeed Cache plugin is present in the WordPress installation
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Check installed version of LiteSpeed CacheIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find LiteSpeed Cache, and note the version number displayedAffected if Version is lower than 3.6.1 (for example, 3.6.0, 3.5.x, etc.)
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Inspect the Server IP setting fieldIn WordPress admin, navigate to LiteSpeed Cache settings and find the Server IP or Crawler settings section where Server IP can be configuredAffected if The Server IP field contains any value that was input without proper sanitization - this is difficult to detect visually as the XSS executes on page load in the admin panel
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Check for malicious JavaScript in Server IP configurationAccess the WordPress database directly and query the litespeed.conf table or related options table for the Server IP setting value, examining it for script tags or javascript: patternsAffected if The stored Server IP value contains HTML script tags, javascript: protocol handlers, or other XSS payloads
User is affected if LiteSpeed Cache plugin version is below 3.6.1 and the Server IP setting field contains unsanitized user input that could execute malicious JavaScript when 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 data3.6.1
Update LiteSpeed Cache plugin to version 3.6.1 or later, which includes proper input sanitization for the Server IP setting field.
Fix this in Litespeed Cache
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-29172 — 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-2020-29172 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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- 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