What is CVE-2019-16220?

CVE-2019-16220 is a medium-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under URL Redirection to Untrusted Site (Open Redirect). CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2019-09-11.

How severe is CVE-2019-16220?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2019-16220 known to be exploited?

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

Open Redirect in WordPress

CVE-2019-16220

In WordPress before 5.2.3, validation and sanitization of a URL in wp_validate_redirect in wp-includes/pluggable.php could lead to an open redirect if a provided URL path does not start with a forward slash.

Vulnerability class: Open Redirect

Published 2019-09-11 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.025 (84.4th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 84th percentile — 84.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.025 · newest: 0.025 · change: 0.000

Affected products

WordPress
Debian Linux — versions 8.0, 9.0, 10.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-601 — URL Redirection to Untrusted Site (Open Redirect)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9863 (Third Party Advisory)
wordpress.org/news/2019/09/wordpress-5-2-3-security-and-maintenance-release/ (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/45971 (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
github.com/WordPress/WordPress/commit/c86ee39ff4c1a79b93c967eb88522f5c09614a28 (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/10/msg00023.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/8 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4599 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4677 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-16220?: CVE-2019-16220 is a medium-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under URL Redirection to Untrusted Site (Open Redirect). CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2019-09-11.
How severe is CVE-2019-16220?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-16220 known to be exploited?: 4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.