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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2009-2851: Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the administrator interface in WordPress before 2.8.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrar

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 19/100)

  • Public proof-of-concept code exists (Exploit-DB); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 7.9% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 94.7% of all records.
  • Fixed version: wordpress (Debian:12) 2.8.3-1; wordpress (Debian:4.0) 2.0.10-1etch4, 2.0.10-1etch5; wordpress (Debian:5.0) 2.5.1-11+lenny1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to wordpress (Debian:12) 2.8.3-1; wordpress (Debian:4.0) 2.0.10-1etch4, 2.0.10-1etch5; wordpress (Debian:5.0) 2.5.1-11+lenny1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the administrator interface in WordPress before 2.8.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a comment author URL.

MediumCVSS 4.3 · v2.0—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Aug 18, 2009
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
7.9% · 94th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

19

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
17 / 40 · 4.3 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
2 / 30 · 7.9%

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  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
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  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
wordpresswordpress

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When you'll hear from us

  • when a new CVE affecting this product is published
  • when a record in your stack enters KEV or gets exploit code

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

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Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
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Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • wordpress wordpressup to 2.8.1 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12wordpressbefore 2.8.3-12.8.3-1
Debian:4.0wordpressbefore 2.0.10-1etch42.0.10-1etch4
Debian:4.0wordpressbefore 2.0.10-1etch52.0.10-1etch5
Debian:5.0wordpressbefore 2.5.1-11+lenny12.5.1-11+lenny1

Same product

wordpress: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-87902An unauthenticated attacker can make `get_page_template()` page-template resolution include a chosen readable local `.php` file outside the KEV
    91Now
  • CVE-2026-63030WordPress < 7.0.2 - REST API batch-route confusion and SQL injection issue leading to Remote Code ExecutionKEV
    72This week
  • CVE-2026-60137WordPress < 7.0.2 - Facilitated SQL Injection via author__not_in in WP_QueryKEV
    60This week

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2009-2432Jul 10, 2009 · WordPress and WordPress MU before 2.8.1 allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via a direct request to wp-settings.php, whic
    21Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2009-2762Aug 13, 2009 · wp-login.php in WordPress 2.8.3 and earlier allows remote attackers to force a password reset for the first user in the database, possibly t
    36Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2009-2852Aug 18, 2009 · WP-Syntax plugin 0.9.1 and earlier for Wordpress, with register_globals enabled, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code via t
    28Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:wordpress2.8.3-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Exploit-DB entry ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Exploit-DB entrywebapps2009-07-24

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. First PoC-26 d
  2. Published
  3. TodayNov 4, 2026+6287 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

    If successful

    Confidentiality
    none
    Integrity
    P · data or configuration can be modified
    Availability
    none
    Attack complexity
    M
    Confidentiality impact
    None
    Integrity impact
    P
    Availability impact
    None

    Weakness class (CWE)

    CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

    CVSS vector

    AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

    nvd-primary

    Root cause

    User content is inserted into the page as HTML. The browser interprets the content as code rather than data.

    The bug in code

    The whole CWE-79 class

    A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

    Vulnerable

    ts
    commentEl.innerHTML = comment.body;

    Fixed

    ts
    commentEl.textContent = comment.body;

    Attack context

    MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

    ATT&CK techniques

    —

    Change log

    1. Fix✗ → ✓

    For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

    References

    Show all references (7 more)

    Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

    All records