CVE-2018-6389

Description

In WordPress through 4.9.2, unauthenticated attackers can cause a denial of service (resource consumption) by using the large list of registered .js files (from wp-includes/script-loader.php) to construct a series of requests to load every file many times.

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	No fix yet	—
Debian 13	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Debian 12	wordpress	No fix yet	—

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Ubuntu 26.10	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 25.10	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—

Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—

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.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Exploit-DB 1

WordPress Core - 'load-scripts.php' Denial of Service EDB-43968 · dos · Feb 5, 2018

GitHub 22 repositories · most starred shown

s0md3v/Shiva ★ 131 · Mar 4, 2018

Improved DOS exploit for wordpress websites (CVE-2018-6389)
safebuffer/CVE-2018-6389 ★ 82 · Feb 6, 2018

CVE-2018-6389 Exploit In WordPress DoS
ItinerisLtd/trellis-cve-2018-6389 ★ 13 · Aug 30, 2018

Mitigate CVE-2018-6389 WordPress load-scripts / load-styles attacks
knqyf263/CVE-2018-6389 ★ 10 · Feb 7, 2018

WordPress DoS (CVE-2018-6389)
omidsec/CVE-2018-6389 ★ 7 · Nov 13, 2025

PoC Exploit CVE-2018-6389
Zazzzles/Wordpress-DOS ★ 4 · Oct 28, 2018

Exploit for vulnerability CVE-2018-6389 on wordpress sites
ianxtianxt/CVE-2018-6389 ★ 3 · Dec 22, 2019

CVE-2018-6389: WordPress <= 4.9.x 拒绝服务(DOS)漏洞
m3ssap0/wordpress_cve-2018-6389 ★ 2 · Mar 4, 2018

Tries to exploit a WordPress vulnerability (CVE-2018-6389) which can be used to cause a Denial of Service.
JavierOlmedo/wordpress-cve-2018-6389 ★ 2 · Mar 1, 2018

CVE-2018-6389 WordPress Core - 'load-scripts.php' Denial of Service <= 4.9.4
dsfau/wordpress-CVE-2018-6389 ★ 2 · Feb 9, 2018

Metasploit module for WordPress DOS load-scripts.php CVE-2018-638

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

In WordPress through 4.9.2, unauthenticated attackers can cause a denial of service (resource consumption) by using the large list of regis…