Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-1026 lets a low-privileged logged-in WordPress user view published post listings by category in the WP Meta SEO plugin. It is not described as allowing content changes or site takeover, but it weakens access boundaries and can expose content inventory information.
Executive priority
Treat as a routine but real WordPress hardening item. Prioritize sites with open registration, customer portals, or many low-trust subscriber accounts. It is lower urgency than code execution or privilege escalation issues.
Technical view
WP Meta SEO versions up to and including 4.5.3 lack an authorization check in listPostsCategory. The plugin relied on nonce validation as access control, but the nonce was available to all authenticated users, including subscribers. CVSS is 4.3 with low confidentiality impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on WordPress sites running WP Meta SEO 4.5.3 or earlier with untrusted or broadly issued subscriber-level accounts.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires authenticated access but only subscriber-level privileges, with low attack complexity and no user interaction.
Researcher notes
This is CWE-862 missing authorization, not merely a nonce issue. The key control gap is role/capability enforcement around listPostsCategory. Evidence provided supports published post listing disclosure only; broader data access is not established.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all WordPress sites using WP Meta SEO.
- Confirm whether installed versions are 4.5.3 or earlier.
- Update WP Meta SEO beyond affected versions after checking vendor guidance.
- Remove unnecessary low-privilege accounts from affected WordPress sites.
- Restrict subscriber registration where it is not business-required.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress plugin versions across managed sites.
- Review user registration and subscriber account exposure on affected sites.
- Verify WP Meta SEO is no longer at 4.5.3 or earlier.
- Confirm vendor guidance or changelog addresses listPostsCategory authorization.
- Check logs for unusual authenticated access around WP Meta SEO endpoints.
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 lookupCVE-2023-1026 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
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/978d5715-7993-4f89-8d69-895467633bfb?source=cveCVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2870465/wp-meta-seo/trunk?contextall=1&old=2869205&old_path=%2Fwp-meta-seo%2Ftrunk#file2CVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&new=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=CVE reference
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/978d5715-7993-4f89-8d69-895467633bfbCVE 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.