What is CVE-2020-28032?

CVE-2020-28032 is a critical-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-11-02.

How severe is CVE-2020-28032?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-28032 known to be exploited?

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

Deserialization in WordPress

CVE-2020-28032

WordPress before 5.5.2 mishandles deserialization requests in wp-includes/Requests/Utility/FilteredIterator.php.

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

Published 2020-11-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.161 (96.8th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 97th percentile — 96.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.161 · newest: 0.161 · change: 0.000

Affected products

WordPress
Debian Linux — versions 9.0, 10.0
Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 31, 32, 33

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

wordpress.org/news/2020/10/wordpress-5-5-2-security-and-maintenance-release/ (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/add6bedf3a53b647d0ebda2970057912d… (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
wpscan.com/vulnerability/10446 (Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00004.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4784 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-28032?: CVE-2020-28032 is a critical-severity vulnerability in WordPress, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-11-02.
How severe is CVE-2020-28032?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-28032 known to be exploited?: 7 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.