Skip to content
Noroxi
CVE-2022-4973· NVD / CVE Program· CNA Wordfence

WordPress Core < 6.0.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via use of the_meta(); function

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.44% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: wordpress (Debian:12) 6.0.2+dfsg1-1.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to wordpress (Debian:12) 6.0.2+dfsg1-1 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

WordPress Core, in versions up to 6.0.2, is vulnerable to Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting that can be exploited by users with access to the WordPress post and page editor, typically consisting of Authors, Contributors, and Editors making it possible to inject arbitrary web scripts into posts and pages that execute if the the_meta(); function is called on that page.

MediumCVSS 5.4 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Oct 16, 2024
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.4% · 37th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

21

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
21 / 40 · 5.4 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.4%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
5.4
CNA · Wordfence
4.9
0.5 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2022-4973

Is WordPress on your site?

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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

Your free account also gets you

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Port scanning: 5 full scans a day (members only)
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Verify your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? RSS feed for wordpress records

Is WordPress on your site?

WP Lens reads your site's plugin, theme and WordPress versions from the outside and matches them to known vulnerabilities. Works without an account.

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

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

Using wordpress? Add it to your stack and be the first to know about CVEs like this one. (WordPress)

Add to my stack

Affected versions

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

  • wordpress wordpressup to 6.0.2 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Wordfence). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • WordPress Foundation WordPress

    • up to and including 3.6.1affected · semver
    • 3.7 and later · up to and including 3.7.38affected · semver
    • 3.8 and later · up to and including 3.8.38affected · semver
    • 3.9 and later · up to and including 3.9.36affected · semver
    • 4.0 and later · up to and including 4.0.35affected · semver
    • 4.1 and later · up to and including 4.1.35affected · semver
    • 4.2 and later · up to and including 4.2.32affected · semver
    • 4.3 and later · up to and including 4.3.28affected · semver
    • 4.4 and later · up to and including 4.4.27affected · semver
    • 4.5 and later · up to and including 4.5.26affected · semver

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12wordpressbefore 6.0.2+dfsg1-16.0.2+dfsg1-1

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
    74This week
  • CVE-2026-63030WordPress < 7.0.2 - REST API batch-route confusion and SQL injection issue leading to Remote Code ExecutionKEV
    72This week
  • CVE-2019-8942WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1 allows remote code execution because an _wp_attached_file Post Meta entry can be changed to an a
    60This week
  • CVE-2022-21661SQL injection in WordPress
    59Plan
  • CVE-2026-60137WordPress < 7.0.2 - Facilitated SQL Injection via author__not_in in WP_QueryKEV
    55Plan
  • CVE-2017-1001000The register_routes function in wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-posts-controller.php in the REST API in WordPress 4.7.x before
    55Plan

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:wordpress6.0.2+dfsg1-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

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.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

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

Credits

All researchers

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

Variant candidates

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

  • CVE-2025-58674342 days apartWordPress <= 6.8.2 - (Author+) Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability
    23Monitor
  • CVE-2023-38000369 days apartAuth. Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in WordPress core and Gutenberg plugin via Navigation Links Block
    21Monitor

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.

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

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

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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

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

All records