dbcve.org
Download MonitorWordPress extension · Wpchill

CVE-2021-36920

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.4.6 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
Authenticated Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability discovered in WordPress plugin Download Monitor (versions <= 4.4.6).

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

Authenticated reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Download Monitor WordPress plugin affecting versions 4.4.6 and below. An authenticated attacker with contributor-level or higher access can inject malicious JavaScript through plugin parameters that get reflected back in HTTP responses.

MitigationUpdate Download Monitor plugin to the latest version (newer than 4.4.6) which contains the security patch. Until updated, restrict user permissions to minimum required roles.

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
Download MonitorWordPress extension
Affected:<= 4.4.6

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Download Monitor plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Download Monitor' by Wpchill, or check the filesystem at wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/ for the plugin files
    Affected if Plugin is present and active in the WordPress installation
  2. Identify installed plugin version
    Check the plugin header in download-monitor/download-monitor.php for 'Version:' value, or view the plugin details page in WordPress admin plugins list
    Affected if Version number is 4.4.6 or lower (e.g., 4.4.6, 4.4.5, 4.4.0, etc.)
  3. Verify contributor-level or higher users exist
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and review the role column for any accounts with Contributor, Author, Editor, or Administrator roles
    Affected if At least one user account has contributor-level (or higher) access to the WordPress site
  4. Confirm plugin handles file download parameters
    Inspect HTTP requests to the site for download-related URLs (typically includes /download/ or query params like 'dlm_download', 'file', 'path') and check if plugin processes these without proper output encoding
    Affected if The plugin processes download requests and reflects user input back into HTML responses without sanitization

User is affected if Download Monitor plugin version 4.4.6 or lower is installed AND active AND there exists at least one user with contributor-level or higher access who could trigger the reflected XSS through plugin parameters.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.4.6
Interim mitigation

Update Download Monitor plugin to the latest version (newer than 4.4.6) which contains the security patch. Until updated, restrict user permissions to minimum required roles.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Download Monitor version 4.4.7

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard with administrative privileges
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate the 'Download Monitor' plugin in the list
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to upgrade to version 4.4.7 or later
  5. 5. Alternatively, navigate to Dashboard > Updates and apply all available updates
  6. 6. After updating, verify the plugin is running version 4.4.7 or higher by checking the Plugins page

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Download Monitor Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36920 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-36920 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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