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Vulnerability DatabaseCVE-2023-5161

CVE-2023-5161: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Overview

The Modal Window plugin for WordPress (versions up to and including 5.3.5) contains a Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability (CVE-2023-5161) discovered in September 2023. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes in shortcodes (NVD).

Technical details

The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (Medium) with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N. Wordfence has assessed it slightly higher at 6.4 (Medium) with the vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N. The vulnerability exists due to improper sanitization of user input in shortcode attributes (NVD).

Impact

When exploited, this vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with contributor-level permissions or higher to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages. These malicious scripts will execute whenever a user accesses the compromised page (NVD).

Mitigation and workarounds

Users are advised to update their Modal Window plugin to a version newer than 5.3.5, which contains the security fix. The vulnerability has been patched in subsequent releases (NVD).

Additional resources

Source: This report was generated using AI

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