In WordPress through 4.9.2, unauthenticated attackers can cause a denial of service (resource consumption) by using the large list of registered .js files (from wp-includes/script-loader.php) to construct a series of requests to load every file many times.
CVE-2018-6389
“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 8.7 because EPSS predicted 73% probability of exploitation within the next 30 days (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs) when EchelonGraph scored this CVE. NVD baseline CVSS 7.5 retained for reference. Confidence: see factors.
- High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 73%
- Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2018 — if the vendor still supports the product, apply the fixed version it names; if not, isolate the affected system (restrict network access to it, for example with a firewall, or keep it off the internet) or retire the product.
The CVE record's description, written by its CNA (MITRE Corporation), states the affected versions: "In WordPress through 4.9.2, unauthenticated attackers can cause a denial of service (resource consumption) by using the large list of registered .js files (from wp-includes/script-loader.php) to construct a series of re…" No release containing a fix is confirmed on record.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 8.7HIGHhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 63EG Risk 63/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity75% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.5 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation73% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2018. If the vendor still supports the product, apply the fixed version it names within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high; if it no longer does, isolate the affected system (restrict network access to it, for example with a firewall, or keep it off the internet) or retire the product. - EPSS PROB
- 73%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (8.7): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 8.7 is EPSS's lift toward 9.0 from its impact severity (EG Severity, CVSS 7.5 HIGH): a likelihood of exploitation, not impact.
- EG Severity
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 73% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-21). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2018. If the vendor still supports the product, apply the fixed version it names within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high; if it no longer does, isolate the affected system (restrict network access to it, for example with a firewall, or keep it off the internet) or retire the product.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
February 6, 2018
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (8)
- MITRE · CVE Programhttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103060 (archived copy: the site no longer serves it)Third Party Advisory · VDB Entry
- MITRE · CVE Programhttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040347Third Party Advisory · VDB Entry
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://baraktawily.blogspot.fr/2018/02/how-to-dos-29-of-world-wide-websites.htmlExploit · Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://github.com/UltimateHackers/ShivaExploit · Third Party Advisory
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://github.com/WazeHell/CVE-2018-6389Third Party Advisory
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://thehackernews.com/2018/02/wordpress-dos-exploit.htmlExploit · Third Party Advisory
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9021Third Party Advisory
- MITRE · CVE Programhttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43968/Exploit · Third Party Advisory · VDB Entry
Affected Packages
(4 across 4 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress | 5.7.1+dfsg1-2 ... 7.0.2+dfsg1-1 (41 versions) |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress | 6.1.1+dfsg1-1 ... 7.1+dfsg1-1 (28 versions) |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress | 6.8.1+dfsg1-1 ... 7.1+dfsg1-1 (11 versions) |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress | 6.8.1+dfsg1-1 ... 7.1+dfsg1-1 (8 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 23× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 83 of 98 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 17 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 15 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-23 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-21 19:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 19:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pxcx-cprx-mr28 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
- 2026-10-21 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-20 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-19 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-18 10:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-13 02:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pxcx-cprx-mr28 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
- 2026-10-12 20:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 00:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-10 19:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-03 14:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-01 19:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-30 10:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-29 10:23 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-23 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-21 20:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
Show 58 moreShow fewer
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-11 14:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-11 09:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-09 19:23 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-30 19:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-25 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-22 23:37 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-21 23:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-18 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-17 13:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-12 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-07 02:56 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-03 10:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-23 01:37 UTCEG score recompute▲ 1.20
- 2026-07-22 22:17 UTCEG score recompute▼ 1.50
- 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-21 18:18 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-04 13:56 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-16 01:39 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 73% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(11 references, 10 shown)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Exploit-DB entry, 10 GitHub PoCs). No fix has been recorded since the CVE record was published in 2018. If the vendor still supports the product, apply the fixed version it names; if it no longer does, isolate the affected system or retire the product.
- GitHub PoComidsec/CVE-2018-6389Published Nov 13, 2025
PoC Exploit CVE-2018-6389
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCianxtianxt/CVE-2018-6389Published Dec 22, 2019
CVE-2018-6389: WordPress <= 4.9.x 拒绝服务(DOS)漏洞
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCZazzzles/Wordpress-DOSPublished Oct 28, 2018
Exploit for vulnerability CVE-2018-6389 on wordpress sites
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCItinerisLtd/trellis-cve-2018-6389Published Aug 30, 2018
Mitigate CVE-2018-6389 WordPress load-scripts / load-styles attacks
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCm3ssap0/wordpress_cve-2018-6389Published Mar 4, 2018
Tries to exploit a WordPress vulnerability (CVE-2018-6389) which can be used to cause a Denial of Service.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCs0md3v/ShivaPublished Mar 4, 2018
Improved DOS exploit for wordpress websites (CVE-2018-6389)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCJavierOlmedo/wordpress-cve-2018-6389Published Mar 1, 2018
CVE-2018-6389 WordPress Core - 'load-scripts.php' Denial of Service <= 4.9.4
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCdsfau/wordpress-CVE-2018-6389Published Feb 9, 2018
Metasploit module for WordPress DOS load-scripts.php CVE-2018-638
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCknqyf263/CVE-2018-6389Published Feb 7, 2018
WordPress DoS (CVE-2018-6389)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCsafebuffer/CVE-2018-6389Published Feb 6, 2018
CVE-2018-6389 Exploit In WordPress DoS
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownDebian:11:wordpress
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2018-6389?
When was CVE-2018-6389 made public?
Is CVE-2018-6389 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-6389?
How do I remediate CVE-2018-6389?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2018-6389
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-6389?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.