# CVE-2020-35590: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Attackers can bypass login rate limits in the Limit Login Attempts Reloaded WordPress plugin by forging the X-Forwarded-For header when configured to trust arbitrary headers.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Dec 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ch2j-pqr2-h9jh

## What is CVE-2020-35590?

CVE-2020-35590 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Dec 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-35590?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Limitloginattempts Limit Login Attempts Reloaded.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-35590?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-35590 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-35590 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-35590 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Brute-force tool for WordPress Plugin Limit Login Attempts Reloaded >=2.13.0 - Login Limit Bypass (CVE-2020-35590) (github_poc): https://github.com/N4nj0/CVE-2020-35590

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2023-6934](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-6934/): Limit Login Attempts Reloaded <= 2.25.26 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2020-35589](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-35589/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2023-5525](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5525/): Limit Login Attempts Reloaded < 2.25.26 - Admin+ Missing Authorization to Toggle Plugin Auto-Update (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-35590 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-35590 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Dec 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-35590 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2020-35590/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-35590/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-35590
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-35590
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-35590

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-35590/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.