Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-38343 is an open redirect in the Nested Pages WordPress plugin 3.1.15 and earlier. A victim must interact with a crafted request, after which the site can redirect them to an attacker-controlled destination. This is mainly a phishing and trust-abuse risk, not direct server compromise.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate-priority web trust issue. It is unlikely to justify emergency incident response by itself, but internet-facing WordPress sites should be checked and remediated during the next normal vulnerability cycle.
Technical view
The issue is CWE-601 in the `page` POST parameter handled by `npBulkActions`, `npBulkEdit`, `npListingSort`, and `npCategoryFilter` `admin_post` actions. The CVSS 3.1 score is 4.7, with network access, low complexity, no privileges, required user interaction, changed scope, and low confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites using the Nested Pages plugin version 3.1.15 or earlier. The sources do not identify other affected products, hosting platforms, or plugin forks.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Practical risk depends on whether attackers can induce users to interact with malicious links or requests that abuse the vulnerable redirect behavior.
Researcher notes
Evidence is narrow but consistent: the issue is an open redirect tied to specific Nested Pages admin_post actions and the `page` POST parameter. The provided sources do not include exploit code, active exploitation confirmation, or a named fixed version.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Nested Pages plugin and its installed version.
- Check official plugin or vendor guidance for the fixed release before updating.
- Update Nested Pages when a vendor-supported fixed version is confirmed.
- Disable or remove the plugin if it is not operationally required.
- Warn administrators about unsolicited links targeting WordPress admin workflows.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any site runs Nested Pages 3.1.15 or earlier.
- Review WordPress admin-post traffic for the listed affected actions.
- Look for unusual redirects from trusted WordPress admin URLs to external domains.
- Verify remediation by confirming the installed plugin version is no longer affected.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-601: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-38343 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.7 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N2.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/08/nested-pages-pat%E2%80%A6on-vulnerability/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.