CVE-2023-6557

The Events Calendar <= 6.2.8.2 - Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Exposure

2024-01-12 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 6.2.9
Affected Plugin: The Events Calendar
Affected Version: <= 6.2.8.2
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE: CVE-2023-6557

View all The Events Calendar vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-6557 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the The Events Calendar WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 6.2.8.2. 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 6.2.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2024, reported by Nicolas Decayeux.

Vulnerability Overview

The The Events Calendar plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 6.2.8.2 via the route function hooked into wp_ajax_nopriv_tribe_dropdown. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to extract potentially sensitive data including post titles and IDs of pending, private and draft posts.

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 The Events Calendar <= 6.2.8.2 takes no account at all. 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. For The Events Calendar the fix is 6.2.9: builds <= 6.2.8.2 are affected, anything from 6.2.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.2.9, 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: The Events Calendar 6.2.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-6557 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/fc40196e-c0f3-4bc6-ac4b-b866902def61 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6557

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in The Events Calendar

CVSS Vector

5.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

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