CVE-2022-3999 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting the DPD Baltic Shipping WordPress plugin versions prior to 1.2.57. The vulnerability arises from missing authorization checks and a lack of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection in an AJAX action within the plugin. Specifically, any authenticated user, including those with minimal privileges such as subscribers, can exploit this flaw to delete arbitrary options from the WordPress blog's database. This unauthorized deletion can lead to significant integrity and availability issues, potentially rendering the blog unavailable or causing malfunction of critical plugin or site configurations. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) and CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery), indicating that the plugin fails to verify whether the user has permission to perform the action and does not protect against forged requests. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.1, reflecting a high severity due to network attack vector, low attack complexity, requiring only low privileges (authenticated user), no user interaction, and resulting in high impact on integrity and availability, though confidentiality is not affected. No known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the published date. The vulnerability affects the plugin's AJAX endpoint, which is accessible remotely over the network, making exploitation feasible for any authenticated user without additional user interaction. The lack of authorization checks means that even users with minimal roles can perform destructive actions, which is a critical security oversight in WordPress plugin design. This vulnerability can be leveraged to disrupt the availability of websites using this plugin, potentially causing service outages or requiring restoration from backups.

For European organizations using the DPD Baltic Shipping WordPress plugin, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to website availability and integrity. Since the flaw allows low-privileged authenticated users to delete arbitrary options, attackers or malicious insiders could disrupt e-commerce or informational websites, leading to downtime, loss of customer trust, and potential financial losses. Organizations relying on this plugin for shipping or logistics-related functionalities may experience operational disruptions. The impact is particularly critical for small and medium enterprises that may lack robust incident response capabilities. Additionally, compromised websites could be used as vectors for further attacks or reputational damage. Given the plugin's role in shipping logistics, any disruption might affect supply chain visibility or customer order tracking, which is strategically important for businesses operating in the European market. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially since exploitation requires only authenticated access, which could be gained through credential compromise or insider threat.

1. Immediate upgrade to version 1.2.57 or later of the DPD Baltic Shipping WordPress plugin once available, as this will include the necessary authorization and CSRF protections. 2. Until a patch is applied, restrict plugin usage to trusted users only and review user roles to minimize the number of authenticated users with access to the site. 3. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious AJAX requests targeting the plugin's endpoints, especially those attempting option deletions. 4. Conduct regular audits of user accounts and permissions to ensure no unauthorized accounts exist that could exploit this vulnerability. 5. Monitor logs for unusual activity related to AJAX calls or option deletions in WordPress to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 6. Employ multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all authenticated users to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 7. Backup WordPress site configurations and databases frequently to enable quick restoration in case of successful exploitation. 8. Consider temporarily disabling or removing the plugin if it is not critical to operations until a secure version is deployed.