Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2019-19979 affects the WordPress WP Maintenance plugin before 5.0.6. An attacker could abuse a cross-site request forgery flaw to put a site into maintenance mode and inject malicious code that affects visitors. This is high urgency for public WordPress sites using the plugin.
Executive priority
Treat this as a near-term remediation item for public WordPress sites. The impact is visitor-facing code injection and site disruption, but the provided evidence does not support claims of active exploitation.
Technical view
The issue is CSRF with resultant XSS in WP Maintenance before 5.0.6. The CVSS 3.0 score is 8.8, with network access, low attack complexity, required user interaction, changed scope, and low confidentiality and integrity impact noted in the vector.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to WordPress installations running the WP Maintenance plugin below version 5.0.6. The source bundle does not identify CPEs or broader affected products beyond the plugin description.
Exploitation context
The CVE record does not show CISA KEV inclusion, and the supplied sources do not state active exploitation. The vulnerability requires user interaction according to the CVSS vector, consistent with a CSRF-driven attack path.
Researcher notes
Primary evidence names WP Maintenance before 5.0.6 and describes CSRF leading to XSS. The affected product fields in the bundle are incomplete, so validation should rely on plugin inventory and version checks rather than CPE matching.
Mitigation direction
- Update WP Maintenance to version 5.0.6 or later.
- Disable or remove the plugin until it can be updated.
- Review vendor and Wordfence guidance for any additional cleanup advice.
- Restrict WordPress administrative access to trusted users and sessions.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress sites for the WP Maintenance plugin.
- Confirm the installed plugin version is 5.0.6 or later.
- Review maintenance-mode settings for unexpected content changes.
- Inspect public pages for unauthorized scripts or injected content.
- Check relevant WordPress logs for suspicious plugin-setting changes.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2019-19979 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:L/I:L/PR:N/S:C/UI:R
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:L/I:L/PR:N/S:C/UI:R2.85.3Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:L/I:L/PR:N/S:C/UI:R
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/9954CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2019/11/high-severity-vulnerability-patched-in-wp-maintenance-plugin/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.