Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-0717 lets a logged-in WordPress user with subscriber-level access or higher perform a Wicked Folders action intended for administrators. The impact is limited to the plugin’s folder structure, but it can disrupt content organization and administrative workflows.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate WordPress plugin risk. It is not shown as actively exploited, but it can let ordinary authenticated users interfere with admin-managed content organization. Prioritize internet-facing or membership-enabled sites first.
Technical view
Wicked Folders versions up to and including 2.18.16 lack an authorization capability check in ajax_delete_folder. The issue is CWE-862, missing authorization, and has CVSS 3.1 score 5.4 with low integrity and availability impact and no confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on WordPress sites running Wicked Folders at version 2.18.16 or earlier, especially sites allowing subscriber accounts, customer accounts, or other low-privileged authenticated users.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Exploitation requires authenticated WordPress access, but only low privileges are needed according to the CVE and Wordfence description.
Researcher notes
The relevant sink is ajax_delete_folder in Wicked Folders AJAX handling. The key research question is authorization enforcement before folder modification, not unauthenticated access. Sources identify missing capability checks and a WordPress plugin changeset, but do not provide exploit telemetry.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Wicked Folders plugin and installed version.
- Update Wicked Folders beyond 2.18.16 when vendor guidance provides a fixed release.
- Restrict unnecessary subscriber-level accounts and disable open registration where not required.
- Review plugin folder structures for unexpected deletion or modification.
- Monitor vendor, WordPress plugin, and Wordfence guidance for exact remediation details.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Wicked Folders is installed on each WordPress site.
- Check whether the installed version is 2.18.16 or earlier.
- Review user registration settings and low-privilege account population.
- Inspect administrative audit records for unexpected folder-structure changes.
- Verify remediation against the vendor plugin changelog or WordPress repository history.
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-862: 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 lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-0717 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.4 (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:L
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:L2.82.5Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.4MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/35fb658f-6ffa-4df7-bfcd-25307d89fc26?source=cveCVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wicked-folders/tags/2.18.16/lib/class-wicked-folders-ajax.phpCVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=2860994%40wicked-folders%2Ftrunk&old=2805161%40wicked-folders%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=CVE reference
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/35fb658f-6ffa-4df7-bfcd-25307d89fc26CVE reference · x_transferred
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.
Missing Authorization
Missing Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.