Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2022-36422 affects the WP-PostRatings WordPress plugin through version 1.89. A low-privileged user could abuse a race condition to improperly increase or decrease ratings. The issue mainly affects rating integrity, not data confidentiality or site availability.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate integrity issue. It is unlikely to cause full compromise based on the provided evidence, but it can undermine customer-facing ratings or content trust if the plugin is used publicly.
Technical view
The vulnerability is a CWE-362 race condition in WP-PostRatings <= 1.89. The CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N, meaning network-reachable, low complexity, authenticated, no user interaction, and low integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites running WP-PostRatings version 1.89 or earlier. Sites relying on ratings for trust signals, rankings, reviews, or user engagement metrics have the most relevant business risk.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. Exploitation requires low privileges according to the CVSS vector. The practical impact is rating manipulation rather than full site compromise.
Researcher notes
Focus validation on authenticated rating integrity and race-condition behavior in affected versions. Do not assume anonymous exploitation because the supplied CVSS vector states PR:L. No exploit-in-the-wild or definitive fixed-version evidence is included in the bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for WP-PostRatings installations and versions.
- Prioritize remediation for installs running version 1.89 or earlier.
- Check Patchstack and WordPress plugin guidance for fixed versions or vendor mitigation.
- Restrict unnecessary low-privileged account creation where feasible.
- Monitor rating changes for unusual spikes or inconsistent patterns.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether WP-PostRatings is installed on each WordPress site.
- Record the installed plugin version and compare it with <= 1.89 exposure.
- Review whether ratings influence public trust, ranking, or business decisions.
- Check logs or rating data for abnormal repeated rating changes.
- Validate remediation in staging before production rollout.
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-362: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-36422 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N2.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/wp-postratings/wordpress-wp-postratings-plugin-1-89-rating-increase-decrease-via-race-condition-vulnerability/_s_id=cveCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-postratings/#developersCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
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.
Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.