CVE-2023-6279VulnerabilityPublished 29 Jan 2024Updated 2 Jun 2025

CVE-2023-6279: Woostify Sites Library (WordPress plugin) · Missing Authorization

Affects Woostify Sites Library (WordPress plugin)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 42% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Unknown Woostify Sites Library	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Immediate upgrade: Organizations should verify if they use the Woostify Sites Library plugin and update it to version 1.4.8 or later once available, as this will likely include the necessary authorization checks to remediate the vulnerability. 2. Access control review: Restrict user roles and permissions on WordPress sites to the minimum necessary, especially limiting subscriber or low-privilege accounts from accessing AJAX endpoints or administrative functions. 3. Web application firewall (WAF): Deploy or update WAF rules to detect and block suspicious AJAX requests attempting to modify blog options, particularly those that set options to 'activated' or other unusual values. 4. Monitoring and logging: Enable detailed logging of AJAX requests and changes to blog options to detect anomalous activity indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Disable or remove the plugin if not essential: If the Woostify Sites Library plugin is not critical, consider disabling or uninstalling it until a secure version is available. 6. Harden WordPress security: Implement security best practices such as limiting login attempts, enforcing strong authentication, and isolating administrative functions to reduce the risk of authenticated user exploitation. 7. Incident response readiness: Prepare to respond to potential DoS incidents caused by this vulnerability by having backup and recovery procedures in place to restore site availability quickly.

Description

The Woostify Sites Library WordPress plugin before 1.4.8 does not have authorisation in an AJAX action, allowing any authenticated users, such as subscriber to update arbitrary blog options and set them to 'activated' which could lead to DoS when using a specific option name

Impact

For European organizations using WordPress sites with the Woostify Sites Library plugin, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to website availability and operational continuity. Attackers with minimal privileges (e.g., registered users or subscribers) can exploit this flaw to alter critical blog options, potentially triggering denial-of-service conditions that disrupt access to the website or its services. This can affect e-commerce platforms, corporate websites, and public-facing portals, leading to loss of customer trust, revenue impact, and reputational damage. Since WordPress is widely used across Europe, especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and digital agencies, the vulnerability could have broad implications. Additionally, organizations subject to regulatory requirements such as GDPR must consider the operational impact and potential service interruptions as part of their compliance obligations. Although confidentiality is not directly impacted, the integrity of site configurations is compromised, which could be leveraged in chained attacks or to facilitate further exploitation. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests a window for proactive mitigation, but the ease of exploitation and low privilege requirement elevate the urgency for patching or mitigation.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

wpscan.com/vulnerability/626bbc7d-0d0f-4418-ac61-666278a1cbdb/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Jul 2025, 17:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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