CVE-2021-39201 in WordPress and Debian Products

Authenticated cross-site scripting (XSS) in WordPress editor

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. ### Impact The issue allows an authenticated but low-privileged user (like contributor/author) to execute XSS in the editor. This bypasses the restrictions imposed on users who do not have the permission to post `unfiltered_html`. ### Patches This has been patched in WordPress 5.8, and will be pushed to older versions via minor releases (automatic updates). It's strongly recommended that you keep auto-updates enabled to receive the fix. ### References https://wordpress.org/news/category/releases/ https://hackerone.com/reports/1142140 ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue in [HackerOne](https://hackerone.com/wordpress)

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2021-39201 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction and a small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a high impact on confidentiality, with no impact on integrity, and no impact on availability.

Attack Vector:

NETWORK

Attack Complexity:

LOW

Privileges Required:

LOW

User Interaction:

REQUIRED

Scope:

CHANGED

Confidentiality Impact:

HIGH

Integrity Impact:

LOW

Availability Impact:

NONE

Weakness Type

What is a XSS Vulnerability?

The software does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.

CVE-2021-39201 has been classified to as a XSS vulnerability or weakness.

Products Associated with CVE-2021-39201

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Affected Versions

Exploit Probability

EPSS

0.51%

Percentile

65.97%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.