Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A WordPress contact form plugin allowed logged-in users without proper authorization to misuse a feedback submission function. The documented impact is limited integrity change, not data theft or service outage. Treat it as a moderate risk for sites that allow subscriber or customer accounts.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation on public WordPress sites with user registration, customer portals, memberships, or many low-privilege accounts. Lower priority for tightly administered sites without untrusted logins.
Technical view
CVE-2023-28494 is a CWE-862 missing authorization issue in CodePeople Contact Form Email through version 1.3.31. CVSS 3.1 is 4.3: network-reachable, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and low integrity impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to WordPress sites running Contact Form Email, package contact-form-to-email, version 1.3.31 or earlier. The CVSS vector indicates an attacker needs a low-privileged authenticated account.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as CISA KEV. The practical concern is misuse by authenticated users on sites where untrusted users can register or log in.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse beyond the CVE metadata and Patchstack entry. Do not assume unauthenticated exploitation or broader compromise. Focus review on missing capability checks around feedback submission behavior in affected plugin versions.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for contact-form-to-email version 1.3.31 or earlier.
- Check CodePeople, WordPress plugin, and Patchstack guidance for a patched version or vendor workaround.
- Disable the plugin where it is not business-critical.
- Restrict public user registration where possible until vendor guidance is applied.
- Review low-privilege WordPress roles that can access contact form functionality.
Validation and detection
- Confirm the installed plugin name and version on each WordPress site.
- Verify whether untrusted users can obtain low-privileged accounts.
- Review plugin changelogs or vendor notices for authorization fixes after 1.3.31.
- Check logs for unusual feedback submission activity by low-privilege users.
- Validate that feedback submission paths enforce role or capability 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-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-2023-28494 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: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
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.