CVE-2020-35590
LimitLoginAttempts.php in the limit-login-attempts-reloaded plugin before 2.17.4 for WordPress...
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
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.
- Record
CVE-2020-35590- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 5.0 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-307
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
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.
- Record
CVE-2020-35590- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-23256 No score
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.
- Record
EUVD-2020-23256- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-ch2j-pqr2-h9jh No score
LimitLoginAttempts.php in the limit-login-attempts-reloaded plugin before 2.17.4 for WordPress...
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.
- Record
GHSA-ch2j-pqr2-h9jh- Weakness
- CWE-307
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PoC in GitHub | N4nj0/CVE-2020-35590 | 2020-12-23 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, PoC in GitHub |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-35590 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Limitloginattempts Limit Login Attempts Reloaded, published December 21, 2020. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 4.35%, the 91st percentile. No source names a fixed version.