What is CVE-2018-20151?

CVE-2018-20151 is a high-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under Information Disclosure. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-12-14.

How severe is CVE-2018-20151?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2018-20151 known to be exploited?

6 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Information disclosure in WordPress

CVE-2018-20151

In WordPress before 4.9.9 and 5.x before 5.0.1, the user-activation page could be read by a search engine's web crawler if an unusual configuration were chosen. The search engine could then index and display a user's e-mail address and (rarely) the password that was generated by default.

Vulnerability class: Information Disclosure

Published 2018-12-14 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.058 (92.8th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 93rd percentile — 92.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.058 · newest: 0.058 · change: 0.000

Affected products

WordPress
Debian Linux — versions 8.0, 9.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-200 — Information Disclosure

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.securityfocus.com/bid/106220 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-0-1/ (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9174 (Vendor Advisory)
codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.9.9 (Product, Vendor Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4401 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
wordpress.org/news/2018/12/wordpress-5-0-1-security-release/ (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/02/msg00019.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-plugs-bug-that-led-to-google-indexing-some-user… (Third Party Advisory, Press/Media Coverage)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-20151?: CVE-2018-20151 is a high-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under Information Disclosure. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-12-14.
How severe is CVE-2018-20151?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2018-20151 known to be exploited?: 6 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.