Welcome Email Editor <= 5.0.5 - Missing Authorization via ajax_handler
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.0.6
- Affected Plugin
- Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor)
- Affected Version
<= 5.0.5- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2023-47756
At a glance
CVE-2023-47756 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.0.5. 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 5.0.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2023, reported by Abdi Pranata.
Vulnerability Overview
The Welcome Email Editor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized email sending due to a missing capability check on the ajax_handler function in versions up to, and including, 5.0.5. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to send a variety of emails.
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 Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor) <= 5.0.5 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. For Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor) the fix is 5.0.6: builds <= 5.0.5 are affected, anything from 5.0.6 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.0.6, 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: Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor) 5.0.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Swift SMTP (formerly Welcome Email Editor)
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C