Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Product Category Tree
- Affected Version
<= 2.5- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2023-29173
At a glance
CVE-2023-29173 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Product Category Tree WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.5. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed July 2023, reported by Friday.
Vulnerability Overview
The Product Category Tree plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized use of functionality due to a missing capability check on one of its functions in versions up to, and including, 2.5. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to make use of this functionality.
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-862: Missing Authorization
Reaching this weakness in Product Category Tree <= 2.5 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.
Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Product Category Tree yet, so installs running <= 2.5 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Product Category Tree
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C