CVE-2020-35590

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreLOW confidence

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit-prediction score not yet available (the EPSS model rescores nightly; freshly-published CVEs typically appear within 48 hours). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: nvd
Elevated
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 4%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

LimitLoginAttempts.php in the limit-login-attempts-reloaded plugin before 2.17.4 for WordPress allows a bypass of (per IP address) rate limits because the X-Forwarded-For header can be forged. When the plugin is configured to accept an arbitrary header for the client source IP address, a malicious user is not limited to perform a brute force attack, because the client IP header accepts any arbitrary string. When randomizing the header input, the login count does not ever reach the maximum allowed retries.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(low)
EPSS
90.1%
KEV
Not listed

Published

December 21, 2020

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Jun 22, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org

https://wordpress.org/plugins/limit-login-attempts-reloaded/#developers
generic

WordPress Plugin Limit Login Attempts Reloaded - Multiple Vulnerabilities - The Tales of N4nj0

https://n4nj0.github.io/advisories/wordpress-plugin-limit-login-attempts-reloaded/

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 36× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. 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. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-07 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 41 more
  1. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-15 17:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-23 03:58 UTCEG score recompute
  41. 2026-05-23 03:58 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCN4nj0/CVE-2020-35590
    First seen Dec 23, 2020

    Brute-force tool for WordPress Plugin Limit Login Attempts Reloaded >=2.13.0 - Login Limit Bypass (CVE-2020-35590)

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-35590?
CVE-2020-35590 is a critical vulnerability published on December 21, 2020. LimitLoginAttempts.php in the limit-login-attempts-reloaded plugin before 2.17.4 for WordPress allows a bypass of (per IP address) rate limits because the X-Forwarded-For header can be forged. When the plugin is configured to accept an arbitrary header for the client source IP address, a malicious…
When was CVE-2020-35590 disclosed?
CVE-2020-35590 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on December 21, 2020, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-35590 actively exploited?
CVE-2020-35590 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 90.1% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-35590?
CVE-2020-35590 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD). The EG score is currently aggregating — additional source signals are being incorporated as they become available..
How do I remediate CVE-2020-35590?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-35590, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2020-35590

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2020-35590?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs