Description
wp-includes/class-phpass.php in WordPress before 3.7.5, 3.8.x before 3.8.5, 3.9.x before 3.9.3, and 4.x before 4.0.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a long password that is improperly handled during hashing, a similar issue to CVE-2014-9016.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | wordpress | 4.0.1+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | wordpress | 4.0.1+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | wordpress | 4.0.1+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 7 | wordpress | 3.6.1+dfsg-1~deb7u5 | DSA-3085-1 |
| Debian 6.0 | wordpress | 3.6.1+dfsg-1~deb6u6 | DLA-236-1 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Exploit-DB 2
- WordPress Core 4.0 - Denial of Service EDB-35413 · dos · Dec 1, 2014
- WordPress Core < 4.0.1 - Denial of Service EDB-35414 · dos · Dec 1, 2014
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 2
- DLA-236-1 wordpress - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DSA-3085-1 wordpress - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- DSA-3085 vendor-advisory
- [oss-security] 20141125 Re: WordPress 4.0.1 Security Release mailing-list
- http://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/30467
- http://advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2014-0493.html
- 1031243 vdb-entry
- MDVSA-2014:233 vendor-advisory
- https://wordpress.org/news/2014/11/wordpress-4-0-1/