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Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2024-13889

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
The WordPress Importer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 0.8.3 via deserialization of untrusted input in the 'maybe_unserialize' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.

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 confidence

The WordPress Importer plugin (versions up to 0.8.3) is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection via the maybe_unserialize function, which deserializes untrusted input. Authenticated administrators can inject PHP objects, but exploitation requires a POP chain from another plugin or theme to achieve impact.

MitigationUpdate the WordPress Importer plugin to a version beyond 0.8.3; alternatively, audit installed plugins and themes for POP chains that could be chained with this vulnerability, or remove the plugin if unnecessary.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Verify WordPress Importer plugin is installed
    Check the plugins list in wp-admin under Plugins > Installed Plugins, or inspect the plugin files in /wp-content/plugins/wordpress-importer/ for a readme.txt or index.php file containing the version number
    Affected if The WordPress Importer plugin is present on the site and the displayed version is 0.8.3 or lower
  2. Confirm the installed version number
    Open the plugin's main file (typically index.php) or readme.txt and locate the 'Version:' header; compare this against the affected range of 0.8.3 and below
    Affected if The version listed is 0.8.3 or any version number lower than 0.8.3
  3. Check for administrator-level user access
    Navigate to Users > All Users in wp-admin and verify if any accounts with the Administrator role exist on the site; PHP Object Injection requires an authenticated administrator to inject malicious serialized data
    Affected if At least one user account with Administrator role exists on the WordPress site
  4. Identify POP chain candidates in other plugins/themes
    Review all active plugins and themes for known PHP deserialization vulnerabilities or unsafe unserialize() calls that could be chained with CVE-2024-13889; check plugin/theme source files for patterns like unserialize($_POST), maybe_unserialize, or similar unserialize usage on untrusted input
    Affected if Additional plugins or themes with exploitable deserialization points are installed and active, creating a potential POP chain

A site is affected if it runs WordPress Importer version 0.8.3 or lower AND has at least one administrator account, with the actual exploitation risk depending on the presence of exploitable POP chains in other plugins or themes.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the WordPress Importer plugin to a version beyond 0.8.3; alternatively, audit installed plugins and themes for POP chains that could be chained with this vulnerability, or remove the plugin if unnecessary.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest version higher than 0.8.3 (check WordPress plugin repository for current stable release)

  1. Locate the WordPress Importer plugin in your WordPress installation
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Find the WordPress Importer plugin
  4. Check the current installed version (should be 0.8.3 or lower)
  5. Update the plugin to the latest available version from the WordPress plugin repository

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-13889 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