# CVE-2007-0540: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service in WordPress by triggering pingback requests to binary files, consuming server bandwidth and threads.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Jan 2007
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2007-0540, GHSA-9xf3-qrpw-5fjc

## What is CVE-2007-0540?

CVE-2007-0540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Wordpress Wordpress, published on 29 Jan 2007. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

WordPress allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (bandwidth or thread consumption) via pingback service calls with a source URI that corresponds to a file with a binary content type, which is downloaded even though it cannot contain usable pingback data.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2007-0540?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Wordpress Wordpress.

## How do I fix CVE-2007-0540?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2007-0540 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2007-0540 exists.

Public exploit code:

- WordPress Core 1.x/2.0.x - Pingback SourceURI Denial of Service / Information Disclosure (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Wordpress Wordpress

- [CVE-2026-63030](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-63030/): WordPress Core Interpretation Conflict (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-87902](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-87902/): WordPress Core Remote File Inclusion (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-60137](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-60137/): WordPress Core SQL Injection (medium 5.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2012-2399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2399/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2012-2400](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2400/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2007-0540 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2007-0540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Wordpress Wordpress, published on 29 Jan 2007. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2007-0540 exists.

Affected product: Wordpress Wordpress. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-0540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-0540/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2007-0540
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2007-0540
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2007-0540

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-0540/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.