Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-35040 is a broken access control issue in the WordPress SendPress Newsletters plugin through 1.23.11.6. An attacker may reach functionality that should require authorization, creating limited integrity risk. The provided sources do not describe data theft, outage impact, or active exploitation.
Executive priority
Address during normal vulnerability remediation, faster for public WordPress sites using SendPress Newsletters. The issue is remotely reachable and unauthenticated, but available evidence points to limited integrity impact and no confirmed active exploitation.
Technical view
The issue is classified as CWE-862, Missing Authorization, with CVSS 3.1 score 5.3: network-accessible, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, integrity impact only. Public details in the bundle do not specify the vulnerable endpoint, exact action, patch version, or practical exploit behavior.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on WordPress sites with the SendPress Newsletters plugin installed at version 1.23.11.6 or earlier. Sites without this plugin are not indicated as affected by the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The CVE is not listed as KEV in the source bundle, and the cited sources provided here do not claim active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates remote unauthenticated reachability, but public evidence in the bundle is limited.
Researcher notes
The public bundle is sparse. It identifies product, affected range, CWE, and CVSS, but not the vulnerable route, authorization boundary, fixed version, or proof of exploitation. Avoid assuming broader WordPress compromise without additional vendor or researcher evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the SendPress Newsletters plugin and record installed versions.
- Treat versions through 1.23.11.6 as affected until vendor guidance says otherwise.
- Check SendPress and Patchstack guidance for a fixed release or official workaround.
- Disable or remove the plugin where it is not operationally required.
- Prioritize externally reachable WordPress sites before internal or staging systems.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether SendPress Newsletters is installed on each WordPress instance.
- Compare installed plugin versions against the affected range through 1.23.11.6.
- Review access logs for unusual unauthenticated requests to plugin-related paths.
- Verify any upgrade, removal, or workaround in a staging environment first.
- Document remaining affected sites and ownership for follow-up remediation.
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-2023-35040 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
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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.