Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-23861 is a CSRF flaw in the WordPress GMAce plugin up to version 1.5.2. A logged-in administrator could be tricked into causing an unwanted plugin action. The published impact is limited integrity and availability loss, not data theft.
Executive priority
Treat as a routine but real WordPress plugin hygiene item. Prioritize affected public or business-critical WordPress sites, especially where administrators frequently use the dashboard. This is not currently evidenced as actively exploited in the provided sources.
Technical view
The CVE describes CWE-352 Cross-Site Request Forgery in German Mesky GMAce for WordPress <= 1.5.2. CVSS 3.1 is 5.4 with network attack vector, low complexity, no attacker privileges, and required user interaction. Reported impacts are I:L and A:L, with no confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites that have the GMAce plugin installed at version 1.5.2 or earlier. Sites without this plugin are not affected based on the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation would require social engineering or user interaction by a privileged WordPress user, consistent with CSRF risk, but public exploit status is not established here.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse beyond the CVE and Patchstack entry. Do not assume broader GMAce versions, exploit availability, or a specific patch level unless confirmed by vendor or Patchstack data. The core validation question is installed plugin presence and version.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the GMAce plugin and record installed versions.
- Check vendor or Patchstack guidance for a fixed release or official mitigation.
- Upgrade if a maintained fixed version is available from trusted plugin sources.
- Disable or remove GMAce where no fixed version is available or business need is low.
- Limit administrative access and reinforce anti-phishing controls for WordPress admins.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any WordPress instance runs GMAce version 1.5.2 or earlier.
- Review plugin changelogs or vendor advisories for a CSRF fix reference.
- Check WordPress audit logs for unexpected GMAce configuration or content changes.
- Verify administrative workflows use current CSRF protections after remediation.
- Document unaffected systems where the plugin is absent.
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-352: 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-2023-23861 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:N/UI:R/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:N/UI:R/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:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
Source materials
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.
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.