WordPress and WordPress MU before 2.8.1 exhibit different behavior for a failed login attempt depending on whether the user account exists, which allows remote attackers to enumerate valid usernames. NOTE: the vendor reportedly disputes the significance of this issue, indicating that the behavior exists for "user convenience."
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2009-2335 is rated High Exploit Risk (71.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 85.34%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.39% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17702 | exploit_db | edb | 2011-08-20 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-12-28 | 83.95% | 85.34% | +1.39% |
| 2 | 2025-12-27 | 85.34% | 83.95% | -1.39% |
| 3 | 2025-10-28 | — | 85.34% | — |
Full EPSS history (17 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
10.0 | 2.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2009-2335 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (wordpress), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-2335 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-2335 |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2009-2335 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (wordpress), 10 status rows across 10 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, upstream): not-affected 5, ignored 4, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-2335 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress | wordpress | < 2.8.1 | cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| wordpress | wordpress_mu | < 2.8.1 | cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress_mu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://corelabs.coresecurity.com/index.php?action=view&type=advisory&name=WordPress_Privileges_Unchecked | Exploit Third Party Advisory |
| http://securitytracker.com/id?1022528 | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/9110 | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| http://www.osvdb.org/55713 | Broken Link |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/504795/100/0/threaded | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/35581 | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1833 | Patch Vendor Advisory |
| https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-August/msg00597.html | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-August/msg00608.html | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-July/msg00632.html | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-July/msg00676.html | Third Party Advisory |