CVE-2024-13896Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Authenticated service interruption via regex resource exhaustion

Published Apr 10, 2025 · Updated Aug 27, 2025

Regular expression denial of service in WP-GeSHi-Highlight 1.4.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service. The wp_geshi_filter_replace_code() function treats an Author-supplied post body as a regular expression, causing costly matching when crafted markup is rendered. Author access is required to publish the payload; concurrent requests to the resulting page consume a CPU core per request for several seconds.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.46%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Regular expression denial of service in WP-GeSHi-Highlight 1.4.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service. The wp_geshi_filter_replace_code() function treats an Author-supplied post body as a regular expression, causing costly matching when crafted markup is rendered. Author access is required to publish the payload; concurrent requests to the resulting page consume a CPU core per request for several seconds.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-13896
Published
Apr 10, 2025
Updated
Aug 27, 2025
Vendor
Jan-Philip Gehrcke
Product
WP-GeSHi-Highlight
Classifications
CWE-1333, CAPEC-492, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 10, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 27, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <=1.4.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Jan-Philip Gehrcke · WP-GeSHi-Highlightversion=0 <=1.4.3

Published CVSS scores

6.5CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
CAPEC-492Regular Expression Exponential Blowup
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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