Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 4.5.1
- Affected Plugin
- ElasticPress
- Affected Version
<= 4.5.0- CVSS
- 8.3High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE-2023-28154
At a glance
CVE-2023-28154 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the ElasticPress WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.5.0. It carries a CVSS score of 8.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.5.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2023.
Vulnerability Overview
The JS package webpack is vulnerable to Sandbox Bypass in versions up to, and including, 5.75.0 due to mishandling magic comments. Some WordPress plugins and themes use this dependency, however, are not vulnerable to exploitation.
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-269: Improper Privilege Management
Reaching this weakness in ElasticPress <= 4.5.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.
It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For ElasticPress the fix is 4.5.1: builds <= 4.5.0 are affected, anything from 4.5.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 4.5.1, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: ElasticPress 4.5.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in ElasticPress
- 9.8CVE-2022-25912: simple-git < 3.15.0 Remote Code Execution
CVE-2022-25912 - 7.5Moment.js <= 2.29.1 Directory Traversal
- 5.4CVE-2022-37601: loader-utils (JS package) < 2.0.3 Prototype Pollution
CVE-2022-37601 - 4.3CVE-2024-35684: ElasticPress <= 5.1.0 Cross-Site Request Forgery
CVE-2024-35684 - 4.3CVE-2021-4405: ElasticPress <= 3.5.3 Cross-Site Request Forgery Bypass
CVE-2021-4405 - 3.7CVE-2022-37599: loader-utils (JS package) Regular Expression DoS
CVE-2022-37599 - 3.7CVE-2022-37603: loader-utils (JS package) Regular Expression DoS
CVE-2022-37603 - 3.7CVE-2022-25858: terser (JS Package) < 5.14.2 Denial of Service
CVE-2022-25858
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