CVE-2022-43468

WordPress Popular Posts <= 6.0.5 - Unauthenticated Views Changes

2022-11-18 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 6.1.0
Affected Plugin: WP Popular Posts
Affected Version: <= 6.0.5
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
CVE: CVE-2022-43468

At a glance

CVE-2022-43468 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control vulnerability in the WP Popular Posts WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 6.0.5. 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 6.1.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2022, reported by Tsubasa Iinuma.

Vulnerability Overview

The WordPress Popular Posts plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Unauthenticated Views Changes in versions up to, and including, 6.0.5. This is due to a lack of user input validation on a REST endpoint that results in unprotected behavior in the 'update_views_count' function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to manipulate and potentially change the views count endpoint.

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-284: Improper Access Control

WP Popular Posts <= 6.0.5 carries this weakness at update_views_count, and reaching it takes no account at all. Improper access control means the code decides what a caller may do using something other than their actual permissions, so the decision can be wrong without any check appearing to be missing.

Whoever can shape the request decides the answer, so the protected action runs for callers the code never meant to allow. For WP Popular Posts the fix is 6.1.0: builds <= 6.0.5 are affected, anything from 6.1.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.1.0, 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: WP Popular Posts 6.1.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-43468 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/1f42b3fc-cb2a-4e95-a55b-608ae64d8b58 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-43468

Related records

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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