Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.2.83
- Affected Plugin
- Download Manager
- Affected Version
<= 3.2.82- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2023-6421
At a glance
CVE-2023-6421 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization vulnerability in the Download Manager WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.2.82. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.2.83; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2023, reported by Liu Shaohong.
Vulnerability Overview
The Download Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.82. This is due to the plugin leaking the password to a protected file when it receives an invalid password. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain access to protected files.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization
Reaching this weakness in Download Manager <= 3.2.82 takes no account at all. Incorrect authorization means a permission check exists but evaluates the wrong thing, so it passes for callers it was meant to stop.
The action runs for users the code intended to exclude, with the same effect as having no check at all. For Download Manager the fix is 3.2.83: builds <= 3.2.82 are affected, anything from 3.2.83 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.2.83, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Download Manager 3.2.83 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Download Manager
- 9.8WordPress Download Manager <= 2.7.4 Remote Code Execution
- 9.1Download Manager <= 2.8.7 Missing Authorization
- 8.8CVE-2025-3404: Download Manager <= 3.3.12 Arbitrary File Deletion
CVE-2025-3404 - 8.8CVE-2022-2436: Download Manager <= 3.2.49 PHAR Deserialization
CVE-2022-2436 - 8.8CVE-2022-34347: Download Manager CSRF to Plugin Settings Update
CVE-2022-34347 - 8.8CVE-2022-36288: Download Manager <= 3.2.48 Cross-Site Request Forgery
CVE-2022-36288 - 8.8CVE-2022-2431: Download Manager <= 3.2.50 Arbitrary File Deletion
CVE-2022-2431 - 8.8CVE-2021-25069: WordPress Download Manager <= 3.2.33 SQL Injection
CVE-2021-25069
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