CVE-2020-4047 | Authenticated XSS via media attachment page in WordPress

In affected versions of WordPress, authenticated users with upload permissions (like authors) are able to inject JavaScript into some media file attachment pages in a certain way. This can lead to script execution in the context of a higher privileged user when the file is viewed by them. This has been patched in version 5.4.2, along with all the previously affected versions via a minor release (5.3.4, 5.2.7, 5.1.6, 5.0.10, 4.9.15, 4.8.14, 4.7.18, 4.6.19, 4.5.22, 4.4.23, 4.3.24, 4.2.28, 4.1.31, 4.0.31, 3.9.32, 3.8.34, 3.7.34).

Published: 2020-06-12 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-4047 is rated Moderate Risk (56.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.62%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-4047

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 2026-06-15 5.57% 3.62% -1.94%
2 2026-03-04 6.18% 5.57% -0.62%
3 2026-03-01 — 6.18% —

Full EPSS history (39 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-4047

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 4.0 [email protected]
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 4.0 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-4047

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-4047

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-4047 not yet assigned 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-2020-4047
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-4047 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (wordpress), 17 status rows across 17 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 5, needs-triage 4, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-4047

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-4047

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
wordpress wordpress >= 3.7, < 3.7.34 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 3.8, < 3.8.34 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 3.9, < 3.9.32 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.0, < 4.0.31 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.1, < 4.1.31 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.2, < 4.2.28 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.3, < 4.3.24 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.4, < 4.4.23 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.5, < 4.5.22 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.6, < 4.6.19 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.7, < 4.7.18 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.8, < 4.8.14 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 4.9, < 4.9.15 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 5.0, < 5.0.10 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 5.1, < 5.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 5.2, < 5.2.7 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 5.3.0, < 5.3.4 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
wordpress wordpress >= 5.4, < 5.4.2 cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-4047

URL Tags
https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/0977c0d6b241479ecedfe19e96be69f727c3f81f Patch
https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-8q2w-5m27-wm27 Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/07/msg00000.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00011.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/773N2ZV7QEMBGKH6FBKI6Q5S3YJMW357/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ODNHXVJS25YVWYQHOCICXTLIN5UYJFDN/
https://wordpress.org/news/2020/06/wordpress-5-4-2-security-and-maintenance-release/ Release Notes Vendor Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4709 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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