CVE-2023-41862

VS Contact Form <= 13.9 - Missing Authorization

2023-09-05 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 14.0
Affected Plugin: VS Contact Form
Affected Version: <= 13.9
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE: CVE-2023-41862

View all VS Contact Form vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-41862 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the VS Contact Form WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 13.9. 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 14.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2023, reported by qilin_99.

Vulnerability Overview

The VS Contact Form plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to missing authorization in versions up to, and including, 13.9. Exact implications of this vulnerability are unknown.

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 VS Contact Form <= 13.9 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. For VS Contact Form the fix is 14.0: builds <= 13.9 are affected, anything from 14.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 14.0, 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: VS Contact Form 14.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-41862 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e3f665b8-fbd5-4100-baf6-3fa99332a5dc https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41862

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in VS Contact Form

CVSS Vector

5.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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