CVE-2011-4898: WordPress

Medium severity, CVSS 5.0. EPSS: 9.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

wp-admin/setup-config.php in the installation component in WordPress 3.3.1 and earlier generates different error messages for requests lacking a dbname parameter depending on whether the MySQL credentials are valid, which makes it easier for remote attackers to conduct brute-force attacks via a series of requests with different uname and pwd parameters. NOTE: the vendor disputes the significance of this issue; also, it is unclear whether providing intentionally vague error messages during installation would be reasonable from a usability perspective

Affected products

• WordPress WordPress: up to and including 3.3.1; version 0.7 only; version 0.71 only; version 0.72 only; version 0.711 only; version 1.0 only; …

Published 2012-01-30. Last modified 2026-06-16.