Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.57.0.10
- Affected Plugin
- VK Blocks
- Affected Version
<= 1.57.0.5- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2023-0583
At a glance
CVE-2023-0583 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the VK Blocks WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.57.0.5. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.57.0.10; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2023, reported by Ram.
Vulnerability Overview
The VK Blocks plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to improper authorization via the REST 'update_vk_blocks_options' function in versions up to, and including, 1.57.0.5. This allows authenticated attackers, with contributor-level permissions or above, to change plugin settings including default icons.
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 interaction from a victim user.
CWE-285: Improper Authorization
VK Blocks <= 1.57.0.5 carries this weakness at update_vk_blocks_options, and reaching it takes an account at Contributor level or above. Improper authorization means a permission check exists but does not cover the case being exercised, so a caller who is allowed to do one thing is allowed to do a neighbouring thing as well.
A lower-privileged account performs an action reserved for a higher one, which on a multi-author or membership site means an ordinary user reaching administrative behaviour. For VK Blocks the fix is 1.57.0.10: builds <= 1.57.0.5 are affected, anything from 1.57.0.10 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.57.0.10, 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: VK Blocks 1.57.0.10 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in VK Blocks
- 6.4CVE-2023-5706: VK Blocks <= 1.63.0.1 Stored Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2023-5706 - 6.4CVE-2023-27925: VK Blocks Stored (Contributor+) XSS in Post
CVE-2023-27925 - 6.4CVE-2023-27923: VK Blocks Stored (Contributor+) XSS in Tag Edit
CVE-2023-27923 - 4.3CVE-2024-13635: VK Blocks <= 1.94.2.2 Sensitive Information Exposure
CVE-2024-13635
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C