CVE-2019-20042 Cross-site scripting in n/a

What is CVE-2019-20042?

CVE-2019-20042 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 27 Dec 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

In wp-includes/formatting.php in WordPress 3.7 to 5.3.0, the function wp_targeted_link_rel() can be used in a particular way to result in a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. This has been patched in WordPress 5.3.1, along with all the previous WordPress versions from 3.7 to 5.3 via a minor release.

Weakness: CWE-79

Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20042?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Wordpress Wordpress.

How do I fix CVE-2019-20042?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Escape output for the context it lands in and set a strict Content Security Policy. Upgrading the affected component is the real fix. More about Cross-site scripting.

Is CVE-2019-20042 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20042 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as CVE-2019-16773, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-20042, GHSA-xgvp-37rp-x96c, GHSA-xvg2-m2f4-83m7, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-20042.