Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A vulnerable WordPress GDPR plugin could let anyone on the internet delete site posts or pages without logging in. The main business risk is loss of public content and website availability, not data theft. The source bundle does not show active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for affected public WordPress sites because it can erase business-critical website content without credentials. Prioritize remediation where the plugin is active on production or high-traffic properties.
Technical view
WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) versions up to 3.1.23 expose the admin-dismiss-unsubscribe AJAX action without capability or nonce checks. It also fails to restrict deletion to the intended post type, allowing arbitrary posts or pages to be trashed and then permanently deleted. CVSS is 7.5, CWE-284.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites running Legalweb WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) version 3.1.23 or earlier. Internet-facing WordPress sites are at higher operational risk because exploitation requires no authentication or user interaction.
Exploitation context
The provided sources describe unauthenticated network exploitation with low complexity. CISA KEV status is false in the bundle, and no cited source here confirms active exploitation in the wild.
Researcher notes
The flaw is an authorization and CSRF-control failure around a WordPress AJAX action, compounded by missing post-type validation. Evidence supports availability impact only; confidentiality and integrity impacts are not claimed in the supplied CVSS vector.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) installations.
- Upgrade or remove affected versions according to vendor or WordPress plugin guidance.
- If no safe update is available, disable the plugin until remediated.
- Maintain recent backups for rapid restoration of deleted posts or pages.
- Review site roles and plugin governance for unnecessary legacy plugins.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether the plugin is installed and version is 3.1.23 or earlier.
- Verify remediation by checking the installed plugin version or removal status.
- Review content trash, deletion history, and backups for unexpected missing pages.
- In a safe test environment, confirm the affected AJAX action requires authorization and nonce checks.
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-284: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. 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-2021-42359 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/11/vulnerability-in-wp-dsgvo-tools-gdpr-plugin-allows-unauthenticated-page-deletion/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.
Improper Access Control
Improper Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.