CVE-2019-20041
CRITICAL
9.8
CVSS Score
Published: December 27, 2019 at 07:14 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 02:29 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsDebian LinuxWordPress
Using N/A by N/A?
Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect N/A - before attackers find them.
Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
CRITICAL9.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 5%
Description
wp_kses_bad_protocol in wp-includes/kses.php in WordPress before 5.3.1 mishandles the HTML5 colon named entity, allowing attackers to bypass input sanitization, as demonstrated by the javascript: substring.
Affected
Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.
Debian Linux· Debiandrupal
95%WordPress· WordPressdrupal
95%v < 5.3.1
Affected range stops below 5.3.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Remediation
No guide yetNo remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:
References (6)
x_refsource_MISCPatch
Source: [email protected]
https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/b1975463dd995da19bb40d3fa0786498717e3c53Mailing Listx_refsource_MLISTThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00010.htmlMailing Listx_refsource_BUGTRAQThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/8x_refsource_MISCRelease NotesVendor Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://wordpress.org/news/2019/12/wordpress-5-3-1-security-and-maintenance-release/Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4599Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4677CVSS
- Attack Vector
- NETWORK
- Complexity
- LOW
- Privileges
- NONE
- User Interaction
- NONE
- Scope
- UNCHANGED
- Confidentiality
- HIGH
- Integrity
- HIGH
- Availability
- HIGH
Vector?
Quick Info
StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-20
Get alerted
Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack
Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.
Free plan, no card